Mr. Baseball

19921992
PG-13PG-13
1h 48min

Tom Selleck in Mr. Baseball (1992)

Comedy Romance Sport

Jack Elliot, once a great baseball player, is forced to play in Japan where his brash, egotistical ways cause friction with his new teammates and friends.Jack Elliot, once a great baseball player, is forced to play in Japan where his brash, egotistical ways cause friction with his new teammates and friends.Jack Elliot, once a great baseball player, is forced to play in Japan where his brash, egotistical ways cause friction with his new teammates and friends.

Director
- Fred Schepisi(Co-Director)
Writers
- Theo Pelletier(story)
- John Junkerman(story)
- Gary Ross(screenplay)
Stars

See production, box office & company info

See production, box office & company info

See more at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination

Aya Takanashi in Mr. Baseball (1992)

Tom Selleck and Ken Takakura in Mr. Baseball (1992)

Tom Selleck and Aya Takanashi in Mr. Baseball (1992)

Tom Selleck, Jun Hamamura, Aya Takanashi, and Mineko Yorozuyo in Mr. Baseball (1992)

Fred Schepisi in Mr. Baseball (1992)

Tom Selleck and Ken Takakura in Mr. Baseball (1992)

Tom Selleck in Mr. Baseball (1992)

Tom Selleck and Dennis Haysbert in Mr. Baseball (1992)

Tom Selleck and Dennis Haysbert in Mr. Baseball (1992)

Tom Selleck in Mr. Baseball (1992)

Tom Selleck in Mr. Baseball (1992)

Tom Selleck in Mr. Baseball (1992)

Director
- Fred Schepisi(Co-Director)
Writers
- Theo Pelletier(story)
- John Junkerman(story)
- Gary Ross(screenplay)
All cast & crew
See more cast details at IMDbPro

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7.1

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6.2

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For Love of the Game

6.6

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Blue Chips

6.2

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6.4

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6.9

Quigley Down Under

Although a one-time MVP for the New York Yankees, Jack Elliott is now on the down side of his baseball career. His batting average is low and one of his few claims to fame is that during the previous year, he led the team in 9th inning doubles in the month of August. With an up and coming slugger ready to replace him, he learns that he's been traded to the Chunichi Dragons of the Japanese Central baseball league. Elliott is set in his ways and quite inflexible, not only in accepting Japanese culture in general, but also with the way the baseball team is managed. When he meets his very pretty PR agent, Hiroko, he begins to gain a greater appreciation that he should accept his current situation. When he realizes her other connection to the team, his attitudes begin to change at an even greater pace —garykmcd

male objectification wrapped in a towel man wrapped in a towel taking a bath bathing together 51 more

Taglines
- An inspirational baseball movie.
Genres
Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)
- Rated PG-13 for sensuality and language
Parents guide

Trivia
At one point in the movie, when the pitchers refuse to pitch to Selleck's character because they don't want him to break the home run record, Selleck turns his bat the other way around and challenges pitchers to pitch to him as a sign of protest. This comes from a real-life incident a few years before the movie in the Japan Leagues when Hanshin Tigers slugger Randy Bass was on the verge of breaking the single season home run record there and pitchers refused to pitch to him. Bass similarly turned his bat upside down to protest.

Goofs
All of the Japanese scoreboards in the movie show the batting order using the numbers based on the players' positions in standard baseball scoring, i.e. 1=pitcher, 2=catcher, 3=1st base, and so on. The batting orders show Jack Elliot is the clean-up batter, which is fine. The Japanese use lights above the numbers to indicate who is up to bat. Even when Jack is up to bat, the clean-up position never gets lit. Mostly it's the second batter. Once, in an an away game, the other team has a batter lit up, even though the Dragons are at bat.

Quotes
Max 'Hammer' Dubois: Max Dubois. Around here they call me Hammer. Don't ask me why.
Jack Elliot: Jack Elliot.
Max 'Hammer' Dubois: Yeah. I know who you are. I've been in Japan, not dead.

Connections
Featured in At the Movies: Hero/The Mighty Ducks/Mr. Baseball/Of Mice and Men/An American in Paris (1992)

Top review

9/10

Really enjoyable.

A lot of the comments seem to treat this film as a baseball movie, but I feel this is only secondary. It's really about living in Japan, and it really succeeds.

I spent a few years living in Japan, and I suppose the reason that this movie didn't do too well is that you sort of have to have experienced Japan to get it. I was watching this with a well-travelled friend who's never been to Japan, and he noted that many of the events in the movie were so ludicrous that they destroyed the suspension of disbelief. My reply was that those events were the absolute unvarnished truth about life in Japan!

I think that this movie is definitely worth watching, especially if you've lived in Japan or are interested in it.

helpful•28

4

lethalweasel
Nov 10, 2001

Release date
- October 2, 1992 (United States)
Countries of origin
- United States
- Japan
Languages
- English
- Japanese
Also known as
- 棒球先生
Filming locations
- Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Production companies
See more company credits at IMDbPro

Budget
- $40,000,000 (estimated)
Gross US & Canada
- $20,883,046
Opening weekend US & Canada
- $5,240,375
- Oct 4, 1992
Gross worldwide
- $20,883,046

See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

Runtime
- 1h 48min
Color
- Color
Sound mix
- Dolby Stereo
Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1

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Tom Selleck in Mr. Baseball (1992)

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