Actor: Kevin Costner

With Tin Cup, Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, and For Love of the Game, Kevin Costner stakes his claim to being the best actor of all time in sports movies. Uploaded by nerdreactor.com.

Kevin Costner is the greatest sports movie actor of all time. Now, that in itself may not be enough to secure a place on a list like this. But he’s had enough success in other genres to supplement his sports movie success to make me comfortable with the selection. Most of all, I just like the guy.

Costner almost had his breakthrough role in the hit The Big Chill – except his scenes were famously cut from the finished film. It would be two more years, in his twelfth picture, before Silveradohelped bring him to the public’s – and Hollywood’s – attention. Here are some of his most notable movies:

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• Silverado (1985)
• The Untouchables (1987)
• No Way Out (1987)
• Bull Durham (1988)
• Field of Dreams (1989)
• Dances With Wolves (1990 – Nominee, Actor; Winner, Director)
• Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
• JFK (1991)
• The Bodyguard (1992)
• Wyatt Earp (1994)
• Tin Cup (1996)
• For Love of the Game (1999)

In my opinion, Bull Durham is the best baseball movie ever. And Field of Dreams is in my top 10 all-time favorite movies. Both have rightfully found a place on this blog. Costner carried them both, and was entirely believable. He’s not always made the best choices – in fact, his last decade is almost entirely forgettable – but the above list includes some terrific movies. So Kevin, as a voice one time said: Go the distance.

Film: Bull Durham

Crash Davis taught Nuke LaLoosh some of the basic lessons of baseball - and life. Uploaded by whatwouldtotowatch.com.

If the book Ball Four by Jim Bouton demythologized baseball books, Bull Durham did the same for baseball movies. Most had been upbeat, almost heroic. I’m not sure Bull Durham was “realistic,” but it definitely didn’t put the players on a pedestal.

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This was the first movie in Kevin Costner’s baseball trilogy, along with Field of Dreams (Great American Things, June 13, 2009) and For Love of the Game. He had the role of Crash Davis, a life-long minor league catcher whose final mission was to groom the meteoric Nuke LaLoosh (Tim Robbins), while contending with him for the affections of a baseball groupie (Susan Sarandon).

Writer Ron Shelton played minor league ball, and used his experience in writing the script. It’s a beauty. Here are some wonderful quotes from the movie:

Crash Davis: “Relax, all right? Don’t try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they’re fascist. Throw some ground balls – it’s more democratic.”

Annie Savoy: “The world is made for people who aren’t cursed with self awareness.”

Crash Davis: “Man that ball got outta here in a hurry. I mean anything travels that far oughta have a damn stewardess on it, don’t you think?”

“Nuke” LaLoosh: “A good friend of mine used to say, ‘This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.’ Think about that for a while.”

And then there’s this great scene: