June 25, 2025 – As a Red Sox fan, I have been hearing about this movie for a long time since it the cast includes a couple of famous Red Sox people, and it is set in Massachusetts. I finally got to see it last night. You could call this the ultimate baseball movie.

Set at Soldiers Field in Douglas, Massachusetts, and co-produced by left-wing podcasters from the Chapo Trap House podcast, you would expect that politics and the Red Sox team would be prominent subjects of this film, but they are not. Instead, this is a movie about people who love baseball, friendship, and the baseball field itself, which is soon to disappear forever. This is a bittersweet comedy about the end of things.

Like baseball itself, this is a slow-paced movie. It is as much about the players as it is about the game. If this was more reality-based, most of these people who aren't actively playing would be looking at their phones, but there is none of that. These people actually talk to each other, in person, just like people used to. There are funny pratfalls, a majestic home run, some good plays, some bad ones, wisdom and foolishness. There are small triumphs and small failures. Funny human failings are highlighted as the game goes on.

One of the most memorable characters is not a player at all, he's a scorekeeper named Franny (played by Cliff Blake) who gets pressed into service as umpire later in the game. He is the first to arrive at Soldiers Field, and the last to leave. He repeats part of the famous speech of baseball great Lou Gehrig, saying he's the luckiest man on the face of the earth, and he means it. Also memorable are the leaders of the two teams, Ed Mortainian (Keith William Richards of “Uncut Gems”) of Adler Paint and Graham Morris (Stephen Radochia of “Bloom”) of the Riverdogs.

For Red Sox fans, there are a couple of Red Sox legends who have small parts in the film, former Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee, and longtime Sox announcer Joe Castiglione, both of whom are in the Red Sox Hall of Fame. Castiglione plays food truck operator Mr. Mallinari, who hates his job and wants to travel far away. Bill Lee, plays an old pitcher who arrives during the game, pitches one inning and then leaves. He appears and disappears mysteriously, like a ghost. He says he played at Soldiers Field 30 years ago, but although he seems somehow familiar, nobody can quite recall who he is.

This is the last baseball game that will ever be played at Soldiers Field, which will soon be demolished. It is October and it is starting to get cold. The days are getting shorter, and this is the last game of the season. As the game wears on, it becomes obvious that this is the last baseball game that most of these players will ever play. As the game goes on and on, the umpires leave, since they are not paid to work past 5 p.m., but the players don't want the game to end.

The players, and Franny make extraordinary efforts to keep the game going after dark, using car headlights to light the field. This leads to a comedy of errors. Fly balls disappear into the unlit night sky. Players comb the woods surrounding the field to find foul balls and other balls that have gone over the fence because they don't have enough extras to keep playing.

The two teams, Adler's Paint and The Riverdogs, are fiercely competitive and they don't want the game to end with a tie score, even though they are tired and worn out. They just keep stubbornly playing into the night. The real reason for this is because this is the last game. Everyone wants to be the hero of the game, and to make a good memory to hold onto.

The movie gets its name from the eephus pitch, which is much like a slow softball pitch. It's effectiveness comes from the sharp contrast of its slow speed and high trajectory to normal pitches that are much faster and straighter. There is a considerable discussion of eephus pitches and some are thrown in the game, including one by Bill Lee, who actually threw an eephus pitch in a major league playoff game. It was hit for a home run, and led to a decisive Red Sox loss, one of many Sox playoff disappointments.

Although there are some young players in the game, many are older, and some are way out of shape. For the older players especially, the end of the baseball field is the end of a big part of their life. It is different for the younger players, and a some youngsters who watch part of the game. A couple of the young spectators say they don't understand baseball at all. The players themselves make a lot of mistakes, but they do know how to play the game.

Much of the wide-ranging discussions among players in the movie have to do with disappointments in their lives. They don't want to talk about their jobs, their careers or their failed marriages. Baseball is a refuge, from all of that and this it is ending. Baseball is a connection to childhood, a connection to happier, simpler times. It is not easy facing an end to that.

One player says that if you throw an eephus pitch just right, it seems to stop in the air. The moon looks just like that in one frame of the movie, like a baseball stopped in the sky. The baseball game between Adler Paint and The Riverdogs seems frozen in time for a while, like an old photograph, but eventually time starts up again. Childhood ends and adult disappointments come rushing back. It seems as though nothing much happens in this movie, but actually, it is a bittersweet depiction of the comedy that is life. This movie rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff (no extra charges apply). I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2025 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
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