Take me out to the ballgame — on screen: Four overlooked cinematic titles about our national pastime
CHICAGO — The 2024 Chicago baseball season is upon us. To get you in the mood, Chicago Tribune film critic Nina Metz and sports writer Shakeia Taylor take a look at four cinematic titles often missing from the conversation — sometimes fairly, sometimes not — when it comes to movies about our national pastime.
You couldn’t find a quartet more tonally distinct from one another: “The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings” (1976); “Hardball” (2001); “Mr. 3000” (2004) and “Sugar” (2008).
All are rentable or available on a streaming platform. As with most sports movies, they pivot around similar themes of persistence, patience and redemption.
The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976)
— A comedy about Negro League baseball players in 1939 who are fed up with low pay and form their own barnstorming team, led by Billy Dee Williams and James Earl Jones.
— Shakeia Taylor: “Bingo Long” is one of the best baseball movies I hardly ever see or hear anyone discussing. It features some actors who became big names (Richard Pryor!) and was produced by Berry Gordy and Motown. It’s been more than 100 years since Rube Foster and the owners of Black baseball teams met in Kansas City to formally organize the Negro National League, and the Negro Leagues are more popular than ever. This movie is a must-watch to me as it’s one of the rare instances of that particular era being presented visually.
There’s an attention to detail of the Negro League era that, if you’re unaware, might go unnoticed. From the unique team names to
