For Love of the Game

Billy Chapel (Kevin Costner) is having a bad day. His girlfriend Jane (Kelly Preston, stunning as ever) says she's leaving, and his boss (Brian Cox) says he's selling the business and ace employee Billy may be out of job. Sounds like business as usual for an old-fashioned veteran. However, the business is baseball and for Billy Chapel, the 40-year old former all-star for the Detroit Tigers, it means his career--and his life--is at a crossroads.

Although it is no Bull Durham, For Love of the Game finds a solid and very believable role for Costner. The film is based on Michael Shaara's (The Killer Angels) stream-of-consciousness novel (the rough manuscript was found after his death 1988). The entire film takes place on Billy's day on the mound against the Yankees, a meaningless late-season game for the Tigers, but everything for Billy. In flashbacks, he lingers over his long relationship with Jane and his baseball career (from World Series heroism to a career-threatening injury). His one viable link to the game at hand is his catcher, played winningly by John C. Reilly. Costner, like Chapel, is looking for one more great performance, but the film is too simplistic and loopy at times to resonate. The love story has an extra helping of cuteness, and legendary baseball announcer Vin Scully nearly takes on a leading role, waxing grandiloquent. It's no grand slam, but a solid double. --Doug Thomas
Customer Review: Kevin Baseball
Costner has made about 5 or 6 good movies, and three of them are about baseball. Bull Durham is the comedy, Field of Dreams is the spiritual, but For Love of the Game is the more realistic of the bunch. Billy Chapel (Costner) is an aging veteran pitcher for a bad Detroit team in the twilight of his career who must decide on retirement, or accepting a trade. The movie takes place over the course of just 1 game, with back flashes of his relationship with Jane (Kelly Preston). The movie touches on the celebrity of athletes, and the difficulties of having a normal relationship. I personally thought that the underlying theme was about choosing between a career or a relationship, but I'm sure it was probably deeper than that. I have always thought that Costner was a bit of a ham who takes himself way too seriously, and while at times in this movie he tends to fall into that role, Billy Chapel is more of an understated character, and Costner is by far at his best when he plays that kind of role.
Customer Review: For The Love of the Game
Kevin Costner gives a very compelling performance as a baseball player at the end of his career. He is very realistic in the role and brings thought provoking issues to light. How do you decide to hang up your glove and leave a game that has been the most important thing in your life? It was great that he could personally do the pitching in this movie because it would have lost a lot of the realism and credibility if they had to use someone else.

Life is as Complicated as You Make It!

Our approach was going to be completely the opposite! Our approach was going to be to keep it simple and practice, practice and more practice, until the kids got it right, and until they made no errors. The kids would learn to catch the ball over and over and over until they got it right! They would learn how to throw the ball over and over and over until they got it right! And, they would stand at the plate and hit the ball over and over and over until they got comfortable at the plate and not be afraid of the ball, etc.

* * *

Fifteen kids...ages 9-12 year olds, from every walk of life, were waiting there at the backstop for me to get started. I have to say I was nervous, and I didn't quite know where to start. I had no idea how much a 9-12 year olds knew about baseball and what they could do. How was I going to mold these kids into a team that could win? Opening day was about a month away, and we had to get on with practice right away. After a few comments about the rules of the game, and our own rules as a team, I got the boys out on the field to throw the ball around and loosen up. My brother-in-law hit a little in field practice to get things started.

"Often times the only change people like, is the change that makes noise in their pockets." Richard Bach

I was getting irritated as I watched this team, because many of these kids don't have the strength, the coordination and the eyesight to perform like the big guys...they don't! I really didn't know at the time what I was going to do with my team, but I knew for sure I was not going to do what these coaches were doing with these kids, etc.

When the season started, we won our first eight games in a row, and we won them on simplicity and not making any errors. And, then we lost two in a row, which had me a little worried. But, to make a long season short, the kids came back and, for the season they won 17 games and lost only 3 games.

In the two years I coached Little League baseball, I only saw one double-play; no run-downs; I saw no bunts; and no stealing of bases, etc. So, why practice them! By practicing these various things, I felt that this team I was watching would get worse as the season went on. The only reason why I think a coach would teach the kids this stuff, is an ego trip. Trying to show the kids how much they know about the game of baseball. That's all it could be!

"We design our lives through the power of choices." Unknown

Baseball is a simple game, and almost everyone knows how to play the game. The game is very simple: 1) you throw the baseball; 2) you catch the baseball; 3) you hit the baseball with a bat, right? But, there are people who can make the game of baseball so complicated and technical, it will make your head spin! Case in point:

Sadly, the team that I watched practice early on, won only 2 games and lost 18 games! I felt sorry for this team because they were in shambles. In Little League, there is a 10 run rule. If a team is 10 runs ahead of the other team, the game is stopped! That's so the kids are NOT humiliated...that's not the purpose of Little League. We beat this team by more than 10 runs both times we played them and the games were stopped.

While they were doing this, I went over to another part of the school grounds, and watched another team in our league practice. I thought it would be good for me to get ideas and tips on how they were doing things and go from there. I thought it would help me with my own coaching as well. As I watched this team practice, I found out very quickly what I was NOT going to do with my team! What I was watching here was incredible!

I felt like we had a good practice month and now the proof was in the pudding. Opening day came, and we were to have our first game, and we would find out if we were a disciplined team that could win. It was the discipline that made these kids organized and look and play like a baseball team. I was pleased at what I saw and how far we had come in such a short time. I felt that this team was going to win more games than they would lose, but the jury was still out.

For as long as I can remember, I've always subscribed to the Kiss Principle Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Many years ago, I managed a Little League baseball team, and I got my brother-in-law to help me as a coach. I had never done anything like this before, so I didn't know what to expect from a bunch of 9-12 year olds, etc. I had no idea how much a nine, ten, or eleven year old knew about the game of baseball or what he could learn. To see 15 of those little faces sitting around the backstop, didn't sit well when we got started. I felt like we were going to fail, etc. And, I began to wonder if I should have volunteered in the first place. But, we went on and do the best we could. After all, it was all for the kids.

NOTE: I have been a woodcarver for over twenty years. I was invited to teach a class on woodcarving at the University of New Mexico. If I do, it will be the same approach in wood carving as in Little League baseball...keep it simple, stupid!

There would be no complex, technical blah, blah on this team. Simplicity ruled, and it would stay that way. Good pitching was the key to winning. I was lucky, I had good pitchers, and they were very good, and we would work with them every chance we had. As the season started and progressed, my pitchers would strike out an average of 14 batters per game. So, why would we need all that practice on defense. Not many on the other team are going to reach base anyway. And, why should we practice all that technical blah-blah...not many are going to reach base anyway.

As far as I was concerned, I enjoyed working with the kids so much, that I came back to coach the following year. Surprisingly, it was a repeat of the first year, as we, again won 17 games and lost only 3 games, for a two year total of 34 wins and only 6 losses. And, we did it on simplicity! I was very proud of the kids!

The kids on that 2-18 team were confused by the coaches; they used too many technical terms and play in baseball and they were awful. At the end of the season, the coaches (fathers) were nowhere to be seen, and the team finished the season with a 14 year old coach. PRETTY SAD!

This team was working on things that Major League teams work on. Things like double-plays; run-downs; bunting; signs from the third base and the dugout; getting the lead run; one bounce to the plate from the outfielders! These two fathers (coaches) were confusing these kids and getting too technical with them, in my view. We're talking about 9-12 year olds...they're just starting out learning the game!