“For Love of the Game” tells the story of Billy Chapel chasing after a perfect game in the twilight of his career. Chapel faces retirement and grapples with life after baseball.
The perfect game is the frame for Chapel’s narrative. It’s a journey through his baseball and personal life. The game has been his life. The game in Yankee Stadium at the end of the summer goes through his life piece by piece. The flashbacks help Chapel get through each challenge in his pursuit of the perfect game.
The pitcher’s dream. The perfect game.
Possibly the greatest achievement in the toughest game.
“For Love of the Game” is my favorite movie of all-time. The story. The baseball. The flashbacks. The friendships. The characters. The broadcasters. It all comes together to make a captivating film that captures the beauty of baseball.
Twenty times a pitcher has hurled a perfect game in baseball’s history. It’s always special. Baseball fans everywhere stop what they’re doing to tune in for the final innings as bonus coverage blankets the nation.
In only two months in 2010, baseball has seen two perfect games, a no-hitter, and another near-perfecto that will be remembered for the perfect people surrounding it.
Dallas Braden threw a perfect game on Mother’s Day. His mother passed away when he was a teenager. The story was perfect.
Roy Halladay added perfection for a night to his resume for the Philadelphia Phillies. The workhorse just smiled and seemed removed from the wonder. His journey to the majors and baseball greatness is inspiring too. Early on, he wanted to give it up. Now, only opponents wish he had.
Armando Galarraga didn’t throw a perfect game. But his story has been played for the entire week. His perfecto was derailed by a mistake by an umpire. No, his ball won’t sit in Cooperstown with the other 20. But it will find its own place in history.
The perfect game that wasn’t meant to be will be a lesson to all in class, dignity, and respect for the game. The people made the game special despite the disappointment.
Baseball can rise above anything.
Scandals. Cheaters. Losses. Mistakes.
Every obstacle in the game’s history seems to threaten the special quality of the game. This scandal will surely be too much for the game to handle. The fans will stop coming and it will lose that magical touch.
But it never does.
Perfect games bring a special feeling of excitement, wonder and anxiety to the game. It unearths the passion for the game in every fan. It’s nice to witness perfection in a game that’s so hard to just be good.
This week, we were reminded that the game is special because of the people. The personalities behind the baseball machines that become objects after years in the spotlight.
The truth is they are only human. Like everyone else. And that’s why we all keep coming back and why we all hold our breath for perfection. We can all imagine a time when we felt the rush of the game run through our bodies.
Whether it was in Little League, high school, on the sandlots, the minors, or the pros, the feeling is unlike any other. The feeling of competition. Fielding a groundball, firing to first, and waiting for the first baseman to throw the ball around because you know you got the out by half a step. The light feeling of the bat as you connect for a line drive right up the middle. Sprinting off the field after another win, feeling good about the next game.
Perfection is hard to attain, but it’s always fun to chase after.
Baseball puts a special spin on perfection.
Whether Galarraga’s perfect game should be made perfect or not doesn’t matter. It was perfect in its own way.
And so is every other game. The green grass and the sounds of the park. It never gets old.
Billy Chapel learns new ownership plans to trade him after 19 years with the Detroit Tigers. The owner Gary Wheeler comes to Chapel to ask him to retire and go out with his head held high.
“Everything’s changed Billy. The players, the fans, TV rights, arbitrations. It isn’t the same. The game stinks,” Wheeler says. “And I…I can’t be a part of it anymore.”
“The game doesn’t stink Mr. Wheeler,” Chapel says, “It’s a great game.”