Lights! Camera! Play ball! From the early silent era to the present day baseball movies have always been a staple of the cinema from coming-of-age childhood classics to MLB-level epics. ÊBaseball Goes to the MoviesÊ chronicles America's fascination with the sport from the beginning of the sound era to the current decade quite literally covering the bases on all of the great ä and several of the not-so-great ä baseball flicks. From ÊField of DreamsÊ ( If you build it he will come... ) ÊThe Pride of the YankeesÊ ( But today ä today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth ) and ÊA League of Their OwnÊ ( There's no crying in baseball! ) to an Academy Award nominee for Best Picture (ÊMoneyballÊ) and a sports flick that many believe is the worst ever made (ÊThe Babe Ruth StoryÊ) Backer always swings for the fences in his all-inclusive analysis of this underappreciated genre. Striving to emphasize the baseball aspects of every film featured the book balances its critical discussions with information about players teams ballparks interesting plays statistics baseball rules and the legend and lore of the summer game (all without a DH!). ÊBaseball Goes to the MoviesÊ is equally at home in the hands of silver screen fiends sports fanatics and frightened parents looking for a soft lob at the beginning of Little League.