Winning Fantasy

Baseball was never my game as a kid. Actually a love for baseball movies didn’t even hit me til after my teenage years. But 30 years later, it’s easy to see how 1993 was a good year for kid-baseball. “Rookie of the Year” follows “The Sandlot”, telling a more magical realist story. It’s loaded with cliches, but also heart, inventiveness, and fun.


Thomas Ian Nicholas plays Henry Rowengartner, a 12 year old with passion for baseball but no real skill. When he winds up stuck in a cast all summer after breaking his arm, somehow the tendons in his arm get tight, and so when it comes off, he somehow has the miraculous ability to throw a ball over 100 miles per hour.


This ability is realized while he and some friends are taking in a game at Wrigley. Back then the Cubs were 45 years out from winning their last pennant and were easy punching bags. The crowd is stunned by Henry and the top brass want him on the team, thus playing out almost every kid’s fantasy of starting on a pro baseball team.


If you can buy that, then here’s another one. Daniel Stern of “Home Alone” actually directed the movie and did a decent job. “Rookie of the Year” has a really innocent way with its humor- jokes center around Henry needing a step stool to reach the mics at press conferences, asking mom if he can play pro, and not knowing whether to act like a player or a starstruck fan. Stern’s best decision is a “Wizard of Oz” like intro to Wrigley- cause we’re in pure fantasy-land here.


Stern also plays a batting coach in the film and it’s a performance of oddball spasticity. The script feels somewhat uneven in terms of keeping the laughs going and i’m assuming Stern knew this and decided to give this character his goofy, slapstick best. It works.


The games are well-done, if more than a little predictable by the end. Henry’s awe-struck reactions to being on the field are countered by the overwhelming, anxiety-riddled situation of having to win big league games, and not only are the plays exciting, but the trash talk is on point: fueling obnoxious playground insults for years to come at my school, and i’m assuming, many others.


This is also one of those rare movies where Gary Busey gets to play love interest instead of crazy guy. He’s a burned out pitcher who takes Henry under his wing, and starts seeing his mother. It’s easy to tell where all that’s going but Busey looks great doing it. John Candy also has fun as the Cub’s sarcastic announcer and Eddie Bracken as their long suffering owner.


The movie is never more than comfortably easy viewing- it’s main message is to let kids be kids, and that’s after the prerequisite scenes where Henry upsets his friends because of adult matters. The big game, where Henry, of course, loses his ability, can be seen coming a mile away, too. This movie runs out of steam before the end, but like a good dream, it has just enough to enchant for a short while.


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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtQoj2LBSsES1QTa8a6bpRA