Your Daily Disney+ Recommendation
In a different world, it would be baseball season right now. You might’ve heard, though, that the world in which we all reside is very much sports-free at the moment. ESPN, among its many scrambling attempts to fill the 24-hour, 7-day-a-week schedule, recently announced that it’s going to carve out time every Friday night for the foreseeable future to air sports movies from Walt Disney Pictures. Films like Miracle and Glory Road will get their time in the spotlight again thanks to this initiative.
But considering the time of year, ESPN really ought to play Rookie of the Year, too. Thanks to the Disney/Fox merger, this 1993 comedy directed by and co-starring Daniel Stern is a Disney property. And it’s one of only a few Fox films that are actually on Disney+ for you to stream right now. In spite of (or perhaps because of) its inherently ridiculous, fantasy-driven premise, Rookie of the Year remains one of the most delightful and charming family films of the last 30 years. And it’s a wonderfully well-done sports movie, too, with a clear and undeniable sense that Stern and company adore America’s national pastime.
For the uninitiated: Thomas Ian Nicholas plays Henry Rowengartner, a normal kid who loves the greatest game there is, living in Chicago and adoring the Cubs. One day, when trying to show off to a girl he likes, he tries to make a running catch only to slip on a baseball and break his arm. When it heals, he’s shocked to learn that he inexplicably has the ability to throw baseballs at 100-mph speed. The Cubs notice (because Henry first shows off his gift by throwing a home run ball from the center field bleachers at Wrigley Field direct to the catcher’s mitt at home plate), and Henry becomes their new star.
As I said, Rookie of the Year is ridiculous. This is not a film fully rooted in reality. Did I mention that in this film, the villainous team is the New York Mets? I love the Mets. They’re my favorite team. And with each subsequent viewing of this film, I cannot help but laugh that the nasty team, the team that Henry dreads facing, the team that he can’t shake…is the New York Mets. (Maybe if this movie was released in the late 1980s, when the Mets were still on a super-hot streak, it would’ve been more logical. Even in 1993, that was pushing it.)
Anyway. If you’re missing baseball now, as I am, there are a lot of ways to dive back into history and watch old games or clips. But if you love baseball movies and you love Disney, there’s only a few options available. Luckily, Rookie of the Year is one of the best baseball movies ever made, with a fun spirit, a game cast (including John Candy as the Cubs’ announcer, in one of his last roles), and a winning charm. So Disney+ has you set.