"Major League" hit theaters 30 years ago this weekend.
The sports comedy classic starring Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Wesley Snipes and Corbin Bernsen, among others, that chronicles the fictitious Cleveland Indians run to the AL East pennant still resonates as one of the best baseball movies of all time.
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David S. Ward wrote and directed the movie, which is full of unforgettable characters, one-liners and choruses of "Wild Thing."
With that in mind, Sporting News celebrates 30 things — in no particular order — we still love about "Major League" today.
1. Rachel Phelps
The late Margaret Whitton's portrayal of the Indians owner is chronically underrated when it comes to sports movie villains. She wants to move. She doesn't want to feed Cha Cha real dog food. The spring training meeting is a tone-setter for the entire movie.
2. 'Mitchell Friedman?'
The guy who delivers the unforgettable one-liner after that is the guy who played the janitor in "Scrubs." Then the groundskeepers give their hot take. It's perfect. Speaking of one-liners …
3. 'Juuussst a bit outside'
SN's Ryan Fagan has ranked the best one-liners from the movie. It has become part of the day-to-day lexicon of baseball fans and sports writers for the past 30 years. How many other sports movies claim that many still-quotable one-liners? "Caddyshack" and "The Big Lebowski" are on that short list, but "Major League" dishes them out non-stop for 106 minutes. Who hasn't started one of these only to have one of their buddies finish it? Let's try one here. "Nice catch, Hayes … "
4. Impersonating Lou Brown
The second he tells Charlie Donovan he has a "guy on the other line about some whitewalls," you're hooked. The late James Gammon is the soul of this movie, and none of us has enough gravel in our voice to do him justice.
5. 'Is that you, Tolbert?'
It's an obscure one-liner, but it's still one I use when one of my best friends calls after a night out with too many drinks. If you're going to call that early, at least say you're from the Yankees.
6. Spring training
It’s impossible to pick a best part. Charlie running down the roster as Rick Vaughn gets off a motorcycle. "Veg-head." Pedro Cerrano's first BP. "Come on, Dorn!" Vaughn's spring training uniform without cap and sleeves. It's one laugh after another.
7. California Penal League
That is the name of my longest-standing fantasy baseball league, one I've been in since 2003. No, I haven't stolen a car.
8. Willie Mays Hayes
Understand that ‘80s kids watched Rickey Henderson steal 1,406 bases, but Hayes, portrayed by Wesley Snipes, was just as captivating. The scene where Hayes wakes up in his bed in the parking lot and still wins the race is the best. How many baseball fans wanted to buy 100 pairs of gloves after seeing that?
9. Red tags
The astute viewer knows poor Gentry died and went to the minors.
10. Pedro Cerrano
He wanted religious freedom. Dennis Haysbert went on to other movie and TV roles and has been the voice of Allstate forever, but nothing tops seeing Cerrano smack the ball into the trees on one pitch then whiffing on the curveball the next.
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11. Eddie Harris
I watched a lot of movies with my father, and I never heard him laugh harder than he did when Cerrano and Harris, played by Chelcie Ross, nearly started a "Holy War" over Jesus' ability to hit a curveball. The back and forth between the two throughout the entire movie is outstanding. Of course, they have a mutual friend.
12. Jobu
"Is very bad to steal Jobu's rum. Is very bad." Harris finds out the hard way.
13. Jake Taylor
Berenger plays the aging veteran to perfection, and this was part of an ‘80s run in which he played Sam Weber in "The Big Chill" and Sgt. Barnes in "Platoon." You grow to appreciate Berenger's role as Taylor as you hit your mid 30s — and you probably quote him more often than any other player in this movie.
14. 'We got uniforms and everything.'
When Taylor walks into the wrong apartment looking for Lynn Wells, his love interest played by Rene Russo, he has an encounter with her boyfriend and some of Cleveland's elite who forgot that the city has a team. This awkward scene is flawless from start to finish.
15. Harry Doyle
Movies use gimmick announcers all the time. This movie goes from good to great because of Doyle. Bob Uecker's play-by-play is what we still say in our living rooms while watching games. The Opening Day scene is Uecker's finest work, and his side-kick Monte says eight words the entire movie. Who wouldn't give anything to hear a fictional "Teepee Talk" podcast?
MORE: In defense of "Major League II"
16. Phelps' sky box for the opener
Complete with white picket fence and umbrella drinks. "Here’s to the thrill of defeat."
17. The superfans
Randy Quaid took it to the next level in "Major League II," but the original group of die-hards sees it through from start to finish. The "too high" exchange is amazing.
18. Clu Haywood
Pete Vuckovich, a former Brewers pitcher, plays the role of Yankees slugger to perfection. He's a dip-spitting, home-run hitting nemesis. We're not sure whether he’s a convicted felon.
19. Road trip reading
The reading choices on a brutal road trip include "Song of Hiawatha," "The Deerslayer" and, of course, "Crime and Punishment."
20. 'Uh-oh, Rexy, I don't think this one's got the distance.'
Can you recite word for word what Taylor told Rexman behind the plate before he pops out?
21. Roger Dorn
Corbin Bernsen nails the role of the arrogant veteran third baseman, and he even learns how to field by the end of the season. Dorn becomes more of a parody in the sequels, but he’s the perfect antagonist for Vaughn in this one. Every good team has one of these guys.
22. Charlie Donovan
The GM plays the role of superspy throughout the movie and lets Phelps know exactly how he feels at the end. Charles Cyphers gives an underrated performance as one of the film's glue guys.
23. 'Well, then I guess there's only thing left to do.'
If you don't know what Taylor says next, then we can't help you.
24. 'Pennant Fever'
The unmistakably ‘80s montage music, composed by Oscar-nominated composer James Newton Howard, carries the Indians to a one-game playoff with the Yankees. It really should be played before every postseason game.
25. Rick Vaughn
It's taken us a long time to get to Charlie Sheen, who created a cult icon with Vaughn, the bad-boy flame-throwing pitcher with control issues who starts off with an ejection and ends up a Cy Young candidate. Sheen had already done "Platoon," "Wall Street" and "Young Guns" to this point, not to mention "Eight Men Out" — which a lot of baseball fans think is a better movie. But that's not Sheen's movie. This one is.
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26. Cerrano's homer
Cerrano lets Jobu know how he feels and finally hits a curveball to tie the game against the Yankees. You know what he said, too. He gets a bonus point for carrying the bat around the bases.
27. 'Wild Thing'
We know Phelps’ feeling on the song, but Vaughn's entrance in the ninth is wonderfully over the top. Brown tells him to forget about the curveball, and Vaughn gets Haywood on a 101 mph heater.
28. The Duke
The Yankees’ closer, played by former MLB pitcher Willie Mueller, is a head-hunter who allegedly threw at his son in a father-son game. The look he gives Taylor when he calls his shot before brushing him back is priceless.
29. Taylor's bunt
It goes against the usual game-winning home run script. Taylor, the veteran catcher with bad knees, legs out a bunt while Hayes scores from second. It was an original movie ending — and perfect.
30. It's so Cleveland to this day
That Clevelanders still embrace this movie tells all you need to know. You still see Vaughn jerseys at Progressive Field at every game. The Indians have been to the playoffs 11 times and to the World Series three times since, and every time Cleveland inches closer to ending its World Series championship drought that dates to 1948, this movie comes up. "The Natural," "Bull Durham" and "Field of Dreams" were also part of the unmatched run of 1980s baseball movies, and you can argue those blockbusters are better. That's fine.
"Major League" is the working-class baseball movie that still resonates with me most, and with good reason. You can still have a conversation with a friend using just those one-liners. It’s perfect start to finish. This movie hit home the second Randy Neuman belted out "There's a red moon rising, on the Cuyahoga River, rolling into Cleveland to the lake."
Thirty years later it hasn't changed, and 30 years from now we'll still be dishing out those one-liners when we're too old to go diving into lockers.
"Burn on, big river, burn on."
