‘Major League’ Still Has Its Fastball 30 Years After It First Hit Theaters

There have been countless lovable-loser sports films made over the years. There is only one Major League. (Okay, well, there’s actually three, but that’s beside the point). The movie, released 30 years ago this April and currently available to stream on Hulu, stands head and shoulders above its competitors. An improbable match of humor, poignance, and soon-to-be-star power — along with the real-world relevance of its subject — makes it a timeless classic.

In the interest of full disclosure, I can’t be the least bit partial about this film. I grew up in Cleveland, and some of my earliest memories are attending baseball games at the long-gone Municipal Stadium. The Cleveland Indians, in real life, hold the longest active streak without a championship of any North American professional sports franchise in a single city — currently 70 years and running. When Major League came out in 1989, they hadn’t even made the playoffs since 1954. They were a national joke. They didn’t get any of the sincere literary and film tributes of other long-suffering teams like the Chicago Cubs or Boston Red Sox, either. There was just this silly film.

From the opening, it captures the beleaguered mood of Cleveland at the time — slate-gray shots of a declining industrial city’s meager skyline and battered buildings, scored by Randy Newman’s song “Burn On”: a tribute to the Cuyahoga River’s unfortunate habit of catching fire. The city itself was a punchline, derided as “the Mistake by the Lake” and a mere decade out from being the first major American city to default on its loans since the Great Depression. Even though stadium scenes were filmed in Milwaukee due to scheduling conflicts, Cleveland itself looms large as a character throughout the film.

The premise is thus: Rachel Phelps, a widow who inherited the team upon her husband’s death, has an offer to move from sad-sack Cleveland to a brand-new stadium in sunny Miami. She can’t break her lease with the city unless attendance dips below a certain threshold. In order to slide under that level and trigger her out clause, she attempts to assemble a team that will be the worst in the league; a collection of has-beens and never-weres. This plot device — an owner losing on purpose to fleece two cities at once — might have been a comedic flight of fancy in 1989; in 2019, it’s entirely within the realm of expectations. Nevertheless.

There may not have been baseball talent, but the Indians’ roster ends up stocked with real-world star power. Rising stars Wesley Snipes and Charlie Sheen anchor the rookie end of the cast, with established headliners Corbin Bernsen — then at the height of his popularity due to L.A. Law — and Tom Berenger, recently Academy Award-nominated for Platoon, bringing veteran presence. Dennis Haysbert, later known as President Palmer in 24 and the voice of Allstate commercials, rounds out the cast, along with Rene Russo in her first on-screen role.

The players, overlooked like the city of Cleveland itself, fumble their way into success. While Sheen’s ex-con fireballer Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn created an avatar for a generation of professional relief pitchers, and Snipes’ fleet-footed base-stealer Willie Mays Hayes provided an electric spark, it might be Berenger’s battered veteran catcher Jake Taylor that reflected the city best — a weary old salt on the decline, hoping for one last shot at glory.

With all these bold-faced acting names, the comedic lifeline of the movie comes from someone with plenty of baseball pedigree himself: longtime Milwaukee Brewers broadcast announcer Bob Uecker, playing a thinly-veiled version of himself in Indians radio man Harry Doyle. Uecker’s dry, biting wit, which had earned him roles including the TV sitcom Mr. Belvedere, keeps the story lively throughout the many on-field scenes. His deadpan “just a bit outside” for a wildly errant pitch has a place in the all-time baseball lexicon.

Sports movies need to show the sport being played, right? Well, it nails that aspect. Games play out in mostly-realistic fashion, not cartoony storylines. No one defies the laws of physics or challenges your ability to suspend disbelief. Real major league and college players fill out the on-screen rosters, making the action look believable. Charlie Sheen even later admitted in interviews that he took steroids for the role, bringing his own fastball up to 85 mph, almost major league level.

When the players discover owner Phelps’ machinations to use them as pawns, expecting them to fail, they’re inspired to prove her wrong. From there, it’s a gripping pennant race, one that feels far more real that most sports movies could deliver. The city comes alive with excitement in a way that felt true to their real-life counterparts’ surprising burst of success in the mid-1990s. Through strong performances both comedic and dramatic, realistic sports action, and the spirit of a city many were happy to leave for dead, Major League delivers a timeless sports story that can still make this Cleveland fan cry every time.

As Jake Taylor tells a pin-drop-quiet locker room after learning the game they’ve been pulled into: “There’s only one thing left to do. Win the whole f***ing thing.”

Scott Hines is an architect, blogger and internet user who lives in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife, two young children, and a small, loud dog.

Where to stream Major League