Hollywood Throw-down: A Baseball Scout Rates the Best Movie Pitchers

In the new, based-on-a-true-story baseball dramedy Million Dollar Arm (opening today), Jon Hamm plays a sports agent who produces a reality show that aims to find the hardest-throwing cricket pitchers in India and turn them into MLB flamethrowers. He ends up discovering two teenagers blessed with exceptionally strong arms — and the two actors who play the pitchers, Madhur Mittal and Suraj Sharma, now join an elite squad of mock athletes: actors who have to be convincing as all-star pitchers in a movie.

To get a sense of how actors like Robert Redford, Kevin Costner, Charlie Sheen, and more pulled it off, we brought in the expert eye of the legendary Charlie Hough, a scout with the Los Angeles Dodgers and a knuckleballer who lasted nearly a quarter century in the big leagues. And while the voluble 66-year-old might not be the most discerning of cinephiles (uniformly praising each of the eight movies we had him watch with some variation of the word "Terrific!"), he shared plenty of insights on some big names who have stepped onto the mound.

Actor-Pitcher: Robert Redford in The Natural (1984)
Scouting Report: "That leg kick is from the '60s and '70s. Everyone learned that way. My dad taught me that way, but I couldn't really do it. Wish I could. I'm just not that flexible. There's not a lot of power in his push off the mound.  A guy who really exploded on the mound with a big wind-up was [Hall of Famer] Sandy Koufax." 
Related Thought: "Actors look like athletes now. [When this was made], actors weren't the best baseball players. It's awful hard to look natural. Those guys, well, they look like actors. "
Movie Rating: "Terrific!"

Actor-Pitcher: Dennis Quaid in The Rookie (2002)
Scouting Report: "He sells it pretty good. He's a little stiff, but that's the part. He's playing a guy who doesn't trust himself, doesn't trust his stuff. He's injured, he's disappointed, he's out of baseball. So looking stiff, he looks unsure of himself."
Related Thought: "It's a good movie because it's a good story. You have to make it interesting for the non-baseball fan by making it about the story. He didn't fulfill his dream, and now he's got his chance."
Movie Rating: "Terrific! Terrific!"

Actor-Pitcher: Charlie Sheen in Major League (1989)
Scouting Report: "He looks like a pitcher. That pitch has fire in it. He just lets it go. It's real. Best [movie pitcher] I've seen. And he's also playing a wild guy. He's acting, but it feels real. He's not playing a perfect pitcher, so he doesn't have to pitch like one. [Sheen] really gets everything about the attitude of that kind of player."
Related Thought: "Modern movies are so much better. William Bendix played Babe Ruth in [1948's] The Babe Ruth Story. It didn't look like baseball. Good story though."
Movie Rating: "Terrific! Terrific! Terrific! Terrific!"

Actor-Pitcher: Kevin Costner in For Love of the Game (1999)
Scouting Report: "A good athlete — he looks like he's pitching. Well, he looks like he's trying, anyway. He played for a year at Cal State Fullerton, a great place for baseball. He has real baseball experience — you can tell. [But he] isn't precise. He can't take that to the majors. When you make it to the big leagues, you've learned accuracy."
Related Thought: "These guys, they don't need to do anything but throw the ball. All that stuff they learn to do, arm slot, body control, it's not a movie."
Movie Rating: "Terrific! Terrific!"

Actor-Pitcher: Steve Eastin in Field of Dreams (1989)
Scouting Report: "Obviously, this is not very good pitching. In fact, I'm not sure what they are trying to say. He throws the pitch at the kid, but it's more like he's throwing to third base."
Related Thought: Noting that this is his favorite pic of the group, "The movie is not about the pitcher. It's about the game."
Movie Rating: "Not terrific."

Actor-Pitcher: Michael Moriarty in Bang the Drum Slowly (1973)
Scouting Report: "From shoulders up, there's not much to see. More recent movies are getting athletic-looking guys, athletic-looking actors who take more pride in trying to look like an athlete."
Related Thought: "These older movies, they were trying to be good actors. Much more about delivering lines than looking like a pitcher. Not that they were that healthy back then. Everyone smoked. I smoked for 30 years. I'd buy a carton of cigarettes when I got to a city for a three-game series, and they would be gone by the time I left. I'd finally found something I was really good at!"
Movie Rating: "Terrific! Terrific!"

Actor-Pitcher: Lori Petty in A League of Their Own  (1992)
Scouting Report: "Baseball is tough for girls to look good in. It's too bad. The strength level just isn't the same so it's just … well, you can see it."
Related Thought:  "I just have to remember it's a story. A great story, sure."
Movie Rating: A reluctant "Not terrific."

Actor-Pitcher: Tim Robbins in Bull Durham (1988)
Scouting Report: "An incredible actor. Does he look like a pitcher? No. He looks like the guy he was playing: an out-of-control kid. What I said before, that it's hard for an actor to look natural? [Robbins] looks like a ballplayer who doesn't look natural, but you can sometimes take all that clumsiness and put it together; you can make him into a pitcher. Relief pitchers like to look that clumsy and wild. It's part of their effectiveness. Makes it harder to pick up the ball."
Related Thought: "[That] scene [where he wears his girlfriend's underwear for good luck]? Superstitions are everywhere in baseball, but they just aren't that interesting. A guy wearing the same sweatshirt every game is not a very good movie. You need something movie-ish. So you make a guy wear women's underwear. I had a few superstitions. I liked Elvis Presley. I'd wear an Elvis T-shirt under my uniform. See? Not that interesting. [And] that scene where they all go to the mound and talk about the wedding present. It's extreme, but it's absolutely true. They wouldn't go out and talk about that, but they do go out and talk about nothing. At a certain point, there is no chance a pitcher can get out of a mess. As a pitching coach, there's nothing you can say to fix things. I've walked out to the mound just to say something to the shortstop. 'Let's get 'em' or something. There's nothing to say."
Movie Rating: "Terrific! Terrific! Terrific! Terrific!"