Top 10 poll #6: #6 player in history - Runoff

[chappee11]

Now I’m thinking about Moe Berg; the MLB player who was a spy in Germany in WWII. He was tasked with killing some Nazi scientists and the whole story sounds almost impossible to believe. Anyway, they made a movie about him where he was played by Paul Rudd. It looks like it’s streaming now on Netflix if anyone is interested. I never saw it:

Famous quote I always remembered about Moe Berg but no idea who said it. He was a legit genius and spoke 7 languages. The quote about him was:

“He can speak 7 languages, but he can’t hit in any of them.” Lol.

 

[LHG]

Famous quote I always remembered about Moe Berg but no idea who said it. He was a legit genius and spoke 7 languages. The quote about him was:

“He can speak 7 languages, but he can’t hit in any of them.” Lol.

Sounds vaguely familiar. I don't remember when I learned about him but it was before the movie came out. I think I read some article about him many years ago, possibly from the historical perspective as I'm also a history nerd (in addition to being a baseball nerd).

 

[MilkSpiller22]

When will they make the Jim Abbott movie?

now i want to know whether you meant this as a joke.... that was how i took it... but seriously, i think this could be a great movie....

 

[chappee11]

Sounds vaguely familiar. I don't remember when I learned about him but it was before the movie came out. I think I read some article about him many years ago, possibly from the historical perspective as I'm also a history nerd (in addition to being a baseball nerd).

Yes. Just a great quote. I looked up his career numbers and I would say that the assessment of his hitting was accurate, as well.

 

[MilkSpiller22]

Famous quote I always remembered about Moe Berg but no idea who said it. He was a legit genius and spoke 7 languages. The quote about him was:

“He can speak 7 languages, but he can’t hit in any of them.” Lol.

only thing about this.... it wasnt really a baseball movie... the story is more of a very interesting spy movie... where he was coincidentally a baseball player...

i do remember seeing the movie... but i dont remember if there was more than 10 minutes of baseball, or any other mention of baseball in the movie...

 

[Pure Steel]

Famous quote I always remembered about Moe Berg but no idea who said it. He was a legit genius and spoke 7 languages. The quote about him was:

“He can speak 7 languages, but he can’t hit in any of them.” Lol.

I read the book years ago, brilliant guy…..

 

[calsnowskier]

now i want to know whether you meant this as a joke.... that was how i took it... but seriously, i think this could be a great movie....

Legit comment. He is one of the greatest underdog stories in the history of SPORTS. And while he got a fair bit of attention at the beginning of his career, he has pretty much been ignored since he left the game.

 

[MilkSpiller22]

Legit comment. He is one of the greatest underdog stories in the history of SPORTS. And while he got a fair bit of attention at the beginning of his career, he has pretty much been ignored since he left the game.

ok then... we are all on the same page.... how do we proceed to make this happen??

 

[Pure Steel]

My dad told me about another one: Fear Strikes Out, about Jimmy Piersall, a real MLB outfielder who I guess battled mental illness of some kind. Played by Anthony Perkins in one of his typecast roles as a nut.

With the worst throwing arm on an actor….Karl Malden plays his dad that pushed him real hard growing up…..

 

[calsnowskier]

ok then... we are all on the same page.... how do we proceed to make this happen??

It will happen eventually. But sports movies don’t typically make a lot of money in today’s Hollywood. Especially feel good movies.

 

[MilkSpiller22]

It will happen eventually. But sports movies don’t typically make a lot of money in today’s Hollywood. Especially feel good movies.

of course it all depends on if it is good or not...

but the real problem with feel good stories is what makes it feel good and how heavily they go at that...

for example, the Kurt warner movie probably got hurt because it came off a little as a religious movie...

the movies need to know their role... whether it is a sports movie or a religious movie....

 

[calsnowskier]

of course it all depends on if it is good or not...

but the real problem with feel good stories is what makes it feel good and how heavily they go at that...

for example, the Kurt warner movie probably got hurt because it came off a little as a religious movie...

the movies need to know their role... whether it is a sports movie or a religious movie....

The Rookie and Blind Side are probably the only successful true movies of the last 25 years or so. There just isn’t a market for it.

 

[MilkSpiller22]

The Rookie and Blind Side are probably the only successful true movies of the last 25 years or so. There just isn’t a market for it.

right... and both of those had some religion in it... which is fine... especially blind side...

but sometimes they go too heavily on the religion, like they did in kurt warner, and there were some others too....

we cant come out of the movie saying God was the reason they succeeded... whether thats what the actual player beleives or not...

now, i have no clue how much religion takes part in Jim Abbot's story... probably a good bit... thats the only thing i fear when it comes to movies like this...

 

[calsnowskier]

Remember the Titans was a decent success.

Moneyball was about break even.

We are Marshall was a disaster flop.

 

[calsnowskier]

right... and both of those had some religion in it... which is fine... especially blind side...

but sometimes they go too heavily on the religion, like they did in kurt warner, and there were some others too....

we cant come out of the movie saying God was the reason they succeeded... whether thats what the actual player beleives or not...

now, i have no clue how much religion takes part in Jim Abbot's story... probably a good bit... thats the only thing i fear when it comes to movies like this...

I am actually ignorant to the back story of Abbott. I have no idea if he has a religious back ground or not. The Warner movie was made by right-wing Hollywood, which has only been a thing for about 15-20 years, and is very niche.

I suspect Abbot has been approached about his story. Seeing as it hasn’t happened yet tells me that he either isn’t interested in telling it, or he just hasn’t been presented with a good overall project yet (Disney going too woke? Sorbo including too many scenes with him talking to angels?)

 

[MilkSpiller22]

Remember the Titans was a decent success.

Moneyball was about break even.

We are Marshall was a disaster flop.

was we are marshall a flop... i remember liking that movie...

moneyball was good, but baseball fans got angry at it because the movie lied so much...

 

[MilkSpiller22]

I am actually ignorant to the back story of Abbott. I have no idea if he has a religious back ground or not. The Warner movie was made by right-wing Hollywood, which has only been a thing for about 15-20 years, and is very niche.

I suspect Abbot has been approached about his story. Seeing as it hasn’t happened yet tells me that he either isn’t interested in telling it, or he just hasn’t been presented with a good overall project yet (Disney going too woke? Sorbo including too many scenes with him talking to angels?)

yea... but the interesting parts have always been exaggerated by hollywood... would be nice to hear from an actor playing Bernie williams trying to recruit Abbot to his band, but then realizing he could only do vocals... until Jeter invented a one handed instrument for abbot to play

 

[calsnowskier]

was we are marshall a flop... i remember liking that movie...

moneyball was good, but baseball fans got angry at it because the movie lied so much...

I am not talking quality. I am talking $$

Per IMDB, it had a production budget of 65M with a worldwide box of about 43M. Break even is BASICALLY 2x production budget.

That is a HUGE flop.

 

[MilkSpiller22]

I am not talking quality. I am talking $$

Per IMDB, it had a production budget of 65M with a worldwide box of about 43M. Break even is BASICALLY 2x production budget.

That is a HUGE flop.

but the plane wasnt CGI...

 

[calsnowskier]

yea... but the interesting parts have always been exaggerated by hollywood... would be nice to hear from an actor playing Bernie williams trying to recruit Abbot to his band, but then realizing he could only do vocals... until Jeter invented a one handed instrument for abbot to play

So, what? You are ignoring the part of Williams, Jeter and Abbot fighting crime after performing their gigs on the NY nightclub scene?

I think Abbott needs to hold out for the WHOLE story to be told.