There are many things going on in this film. There was a lawsuit forcing the league to accept a team of "misfits". There's the politician who brought the lawsuit, but who didn't actually want to put in the time to work with the kids and then was ready to end the whole thing when it was clear that actual work would be necessary to keep the kids from humiliating themselves. There's Coach Turner, who wants to keep the losers out of the league because, in his mind, that's what the kids want anyway and it's better for them. There's Buttermaker, a formerly talented baseball player, now down on his luck, unable to commit to anything, and suffering from alcoholism.
But what this film is really about is dignity. Like "Rocky", it's not important that these kids win (something Buttermaker had to learn when he started caring how the team did), but that they gain some dignity.
The final baseball team is so crucial. Turner's son's dignity is taken away from him, and Buttermaker tries to win at the expense of the kids' dignity (Rudy Stein leaning into pitches). But Turner looks like a fool getting violent with his son, and Buttermaker has a "lightbulb" moment when he almost gets violent with Rudy Stein. It's all about the kids' dignity. Everyone gets to play, whether they win or lose. Lupus himself says that he doesn't want to play because he wants to win -- but gets his dignity back when he catches the ball in the outfield. (Even if he didn't make the catch, he still would have been playing, which was the point.)
Movies that came out around that time seem to have a common theme. The Bad News Bears don't win, but, like Rocky, they go the distance. Like Bruce the Shark, who didn't get to eat the entire town of Amity, but at least got to eat Quint and sink his boat. OK, maybe the "Jaws" reference doesn't work, but you get my point. It's about dignity!
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