For Love of the Game–the third baseball film to star Kevin Costner–marks the 25th anniversary since Billy Chapel threw a perfect game.

There’s something about Kevin Costner and sports films. Instead of building it so they can come or arguing over the constitutionality of the DH, Costner takes to the mound as aging Detroit Tigers star Billy Chapel. Chapel is near the end of the road with the Tigers. Owner Gary Wheeler (Brian Cox) is selling the team to a corporate ownership group. After taking over, they plan to trade the future Hall of Famer to the San Francisco Giants. Chapel has other moves up his sleeve as he looks back on his nineteen seasons with the Tigers and his relationship with Jane Aubrey (Kelly Preston). They met five years earlier when Jane was having car troubles. Five year later, Jane is about to leave New York for a job in London. Rather than root for Billy at Yankee Stadium, she’s watching the game from the airport.

Despite his accomplishments, Billy is having something of a down season. He’s been coming back from a brutal hand surgery that should have ended his career. As he takes the mound and sits in the dugout between innings, the film switches between flashbacks, Jane at the airport and Jane’s daughter, Heather (Jena Malone), at school. It never goes too far in any one direction although baseball keeps us at the edge of our seats. While Vin Scully repeatedly points it out, Billy does not realize what’s happening until taking the mound in the 8th inning and talking with catcher Gus Sinski (John C. Reilly). It’s baseball history in the making. Billy goes back to the hotel after the celebration on the field. Thinking he missed out on seeing Jane, he heads to the airport, not realizing that she missed her flight. The two of them get their happy ever after.

The film’s opening montage includes home videos with a young Kevin Costner and his father. It’s a great touch and honestly adds a sense of authenticity. They could have gone with a child actor but it would not be the same. At the time of the film’s release, Costner, was four years older than his character, a 40-year-old about to retire from the game. Funny enough, Tigers manager Frank Perry (J.K. Simmons is written to be 63 years old. However, Simmons is nine days older than Costner. That said. it’s not uncommon for baseball managers to be in their 40s. St. Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol is one of the youngest managers in the game at 38. Last season’s World Series managers, Bruce Bochy and Dusty Baker, were the oldest in Major League Baseball. Baker retired from managing after the season. But I digress.

If not for late Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully, the baseball itself would not be up for par. Scully not only changed the bulk of his lines but he even told Costner that a diving catch appeared as “a little bit of a circus play.” The Hall of Fame broadcaster’s remarks resulted in a reshoot and a less show play. The announcing gig in the film is one of the few times, if any, that Scully appears in a motion picture during the veteran stage of his career. You can tell that he made the role his own by changing the script. It felt more in character to how Scully announced a game rather than what any screenwriter could write. To put it simply, there will never be another Vin Scully. Scully is paired with Steve Lyons on the Fox broadcast despite not being a national broadcaster after 1997.

A fight with the studio over the film’s final cut meant Costner pulled out of several press appearances. I can’t blame him because he wanted the film to be the best possible film. At the same time, the issues were less about the studio and more so with the then-MPAA over the ratings. It’s certainly possible that one line of dialogue would be allowed in this era and still keep a PG-13 rating. Could the film be better and stronger? For sure. It’s still an entertaining product if you ask my opinion.

It might not be Kevin Costner’s best baseball movie but For Love of the Game is still a solid baseball film after 25 years.

DIRECTOR: Sam Raimi
SCREENWRITER: Dana Stevens
CAST: Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston, John C. Reilly, Jena Malone, Brian Cox, J.K. Simmons

Universal Pictures released For Love of the Game in theaters on September 19, 1999. Grade: 4/5

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