10. Kelly Leak, “Bad News Bears”
Maybe not the biggest rebel on this list, but he’s in the Top 2 of baseball movie rebels as he did ride his dirt bike motorcycle on the baseball field. He was a talented player for the “Bad News Bears” and helped them to the championship game once he became a team player.
9. Jack Elliott, “Mr. Baseball”
The Tom Selleck Mr. Baseball character must be in the Top 10, and is because of the way he went from being in American baseball only to be traded to a team in Japan. He went from being an all-about-me type of player to a team player, taking his team to the pennant, and eventually he did all the right things to have a better life than before he arrived in Japan.
8. Pedro Cerrano, “Major League”
Maybe the most memorable character of all the Major League movies, but if he isn’t the most memorable, Pedro Cerrano might just be the most quotable as he was in all three movies in the series. One of my favorite quotes he had in the first Major League movies was:
“Bats, they are sick. I cannot hit curveball. Straightball I hit it very much. Curveball, bats are afraid. I ask Jobu to come, take fear from bats. I offer him cigar, rum. He will come.”
Cerrano went on to get out of his slump, his bats were better and everyone loved Jobu. But always remember this sound advice: “It is very bad to steal Jobu’s rum. It is very bad.”
7. Nuke LaLoosh, “Bull Durham”
C’mon, Meat! The cocky but likable Nuke LaLoosh went from having no control on the mound to eventually making the majors after he took the veteran advice of Crash Davis and even Annie Savoy off the field and sometimes on the field as well. LaLoosh made the majors, learned how to do a bland, safe interview and most of the time was oblivious just how lucky he was to have his million-dollar arm … maybe it was his ten-cent brain. By the way, he once threw a pitch that hit the bull.
Next: Baseball Movie Characters: No 6-3