Whoa! Huge omission from the slice-of-NYC-life aspect

This was also the time New York City Ballet began, the New York Philharmonic was playing, and there were great musicals on Broadway. Next time they make a documentary about all of the things going on in New York City, they had better include all of that, and baseball. Oh, wait a minute, this wasn't a documentary.

theclockticks is making a good point.

NYC was a huge baseball town in 1948. Three awesome teams that were in virtually every Worlds Series.

I guess you can't cover everything.

theclockticks is amazing.

Thanks for the insight. Wouldn't have even considered the parallel.

They missed an easy opportunity to reference baseball, specifically the Yankees. There is a scene where Hallaran has to visit the Bronx County Courthouse to see Garhza's probation officer. The scene was filmed at the courthouse which is seen on every Yankee telecast. It's the building standing tall past right centerfield near Yankee Stadium. If Halleran took the subway, he could have passed the stadium which could have had a game being played at the same time.

I'm not bothered by the omission, but I think it could've easily been included among the kids playing together in some of the scenes if a radio were playing overhead from the open window of a residence and the kids found themselves acting out the parts of their baseball heroes.

They threw in boxing, dang pro wrestling and jump rope

I'm a lifelong NYer but not a baseball fan. In fact, I have never watched a baseball game in its entirety. That said, baseball cannot be compared to wrestling or boxing in the context of this movie. Both sports have a violent element, which was key to identifying the culprit. Otherwise, neither sport was referenced in the way you want baseball to be. Baseball had nothing to do with the crime or the criminal. As for jumping rope, that wasn't a sport (I don't think Double Dutch competitions existed yet). It's merely something kids normally did in most neighborhoods, much like shopping for adults. While it's true that many neighborhoods had stickball games, they were harder to find than jumping rope -- especially in congested Manhattan. Keep in mind that none of the surrounding ambient scenes were staged, so if a stickball game wasn't already in the neighborhood they were shooting, Sessin wasn't going to stage one.

Would a baseball reference have added to the NY ambiance? Not in my opinion. When we talk about NYC being a character in the movie, we're talking about the overall infrastructure, much as the mansion is a character in gothic movies. A baseball reference would not have made the story darker or more exciting -- or "noir-ish." Nor would it have helped to develope the characters or move the story forward. If anything, it might have distracted viewers who hated or loved NY teams.

Off-season