(Published Tuesday, May 29, 2007)

Diamonds in the rough

Spring is in the air, so that means it's time for baseball, which once really was America's pastime.

The most cherished record in the history of the sport will be broken soon, but nobody across the country really cares because the guy who will break it has an enormous noggin. Perhaps this helps "Big Head Barry" calculate the speed of pitches and their trajectory, like George in "Seinfeld." Probably not, though.

There's someplace that still loves baseball, though, and that place is Hollywood. Ever wonder why Tinseltown can get baseball so right, and other sports so wrong? "Kingpin" and "Rollerball," of course, are notable exceptions.

Anyway, here they are, The Greatest Lineup of Baseball Movies of All Time!

5.) "The Natural," 1984 - A bat named Wonder Boy, made from the wood of a tree hit by lightning! A mysterious slugger who saves a franchise! A young Kim Basinger as the temptress! A Hollywood-butchering of Corvallis homeboy Bernard Malamud's novel! Umm…Sorry, Bern, but three for four means you're hitting .750 in baseball.

4.) "Eight Men Out," 1988 - Remember back to a time when things were wholesome, even the scandals. The Chicago White Sox had an all-star lineup and threw the World Series in 1919. Director John Sayles assembles an all-star cast, including John Cusack and Charlie "Wild Thing" Sheen, that swings for the fences in this period piece.

3.) "Field of Dreams," 1989 - The endearing and heartwarming story of a mentally ill Iowa farmer who destroys valuable acreage to eliminate the voices in his head, and placate visions of the "ghosts" of disgraced baseball players.

2.) "Bull Durham," 1988 - Baseball and sex and brilliant dialogue. Sample line of genius, courtesy of Kevin Costner's bush league hero, delivered to Tim Robbins, a young, thunderbolt-throwing meathead destined for the show. "Relax, all right? Don't try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring. Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls. It's more democratic." Oh, and Susan Sarandon is a groupie.

1.) "Major League: Back to the Minors," 1998 - This is part three, the coup de grace of the greatest and only baseball trilogy ever, which sort of makes it Lord of the Bat Rings. Scott Bakula from Quantum Leap becomes manager of a minor league squad, and the plucky underdogs get a shot at the major league Minnesota Twins. Corbin Bersen and that guy who played the president on "24" co-star, mainly because they needed to pay off college loans or something like that.

Did we mention the name of the team is "The Buzz?"

Compiled by Kyle Odegard, who roots for the Detroit Tigers