Baseball world goes to the movies on Oscars weekend
The 86th annual Academy Awards will be handed out on Sunday and MLB.com asked players from around baseball which movies -- both sports and non-sports -- would get their personal Oscars:
AL East
Mark Teixeira, Yankees
Favorite sports movie: Caddyshack
"Just an amazing cast and that kind of humor, that dry sense of humor, to me is the best kind there is. That movie was kind of ahead of its time."
Favorite non-sports movie: Top Gun
"I've probably watched it the most, and it's stood the test of time. Pretty solid all around. My dad was a Navy pilot, so we just thought it was cool. He explained things to us. I thought the special effects, for a 1980s film, were pretty cool. It had a little bit of everything -- it had some drama, it had some action, it had some comedy. Overall, just a great movie."
David Ross, Red Sox
Favorite sports movie: Major League
"I thought it was hilarious. I loved the banter that goes on in the clubhouse and it encompasses so many different things in a baseball season. The clubhouse banter and the off-the-field stuff is just so funny. The Natural was another cool one. I grew up watching that."
Favorite non-sports movie: Gladiator
"My favorite movie of all-time? That's a tough question. But I've got to go with Gladiator. It comes with everything for guys. Being at the top, falling off and working your way back. It's a good story and there's some revenge and a little bit of a love story. I'm usually not into the early-century stuff but I enjoyed it."
Brad Brach, Orioles
Favorite sports movie: Remember the Titans
"I've got a lot of movies I like, but that's the one I always say is my favorite."
Kevin Gausman, Orioles
Favorite non-sports movie: Napoleon Dynamite
"I like really awkward moments so I'd have to say Napoleon Dynamite."
Casey Janssen, Blue Jays
Favorite sports movie: Major League
"Classic. It's great. I can cite the lines to half the movie. It's a fun baseball movie and it's another one that seems like it always finds its way on TV before Spring Training. I always catch it and it puts me in a good place."
Favorite non-sports movie: Old School
"You can watch it over and over and over and never get sick of it. It's hilarious, there's never a time when you say I don't feel like watching that movie. I think you could watch it all day every day, still laugh and stay entertained."
James Loney, Rays
Favorite sports movie: Major League
"Major League is my favorite sports movie, I guess. Home Alone is probably my favorite kids movie. Crash with Terrence Howard, Matt Dillion, a few people in it. It's dramatic, it's good. Kind of looks at stereotypes with people and how they intertwine. And Friday, it's a comedy. I enjoy the movies when I can -- good movies. I haven't seen any of the Academy Award nominees this year, though.
AL Central
Chris Sale, White Sox
Favorite sports movie: Happy Gilmore
"It's fun to mess around and so many of the scenarios that come up on the golf course when we are playing fit perfectly for some of the lines in that movie.
Adam Dunn, White Sox
Favorite non-sports movie: Tombstone and Primal Fear
"Tombstone is just, I don't really know why. I just really enjoy watching it. Nothing really sticks out. Primal Fear, I love Edward Norton. I think that's one of his best roles he's ever played and I really like those suspenseful kind of movies like that. It was just really well done and the acting in it was awesome.
Danny Worth, Tigers
Favorite sports movie: Any Given Sunday and Field of Dreams
"Who doesn't like Field of Dreams? That movie's great."
Favorite non-sports movie: Braveheart
"I love that movie. I like Blood Diamond a lot, but probably Braveheart."
Brian Duensing, Twins
Favorite sports movie: Bull Durham
"It's a well-made movie and it pretty much depicts Minor League baseball to a 'T.' "
Favorite non-sports movie: The Breakfast Club
"When I was growing up, I'd stay home and watch my sisters because my parents both worked, so we watched a ton of movies. So we definitely watched that one a lot when I was 12 or 13."
Aaron Crow, Royals
Favorite sports movie: The Sandlot
"I liked watching it as a kid over and over again. It's about baseball and kids, I don't know the actors' names but I liked it."
Favorite non-sports movie: Dumb and Dumber
"After you've seen it 30 times it's still funny. I've seen it at least that many times, maybe more than that. But it's still funny after all these years."
Justin Masterson, Indians
Favorite sports movie: For Love of the Game
"Being in the game, and watching Kevin Costner go through it all, and not that you have those flashbacks, but it shows everything that makes you who you are. It does a really good job of showing that. I liked that part of it. It's cool."
Favorite non-sports movie: Dumb and Dumber
"It's just hilarious. You can watch it as many times as you'd like and something new always sticks out for you. It's just good, old-fashioned, clean humor."
AL West
Matt Harrison, Rangers
Favorite non-sports movie: Goodfellas
"I don't know, I just like those Mafia-type movies."
Lucas Harrell, Astros
Favorite sports movie: The Natural
"Can't go wrong with Robert Redford. Robert Redford's a good guy, so it's just a classic and a good movie. Sandlot is a close second."
Favorite non-sports movie: Grandma's Boy
"It's just a dry humor kind of a goofy movie. It's good stuff."
Kevin Jepsen, Angels
Favorite sports movie: The Natural
"First of all, it's a great story -- guy who's supposed to be the greatest ever, something happens, he's away from baseball, comes back, and what's he, like 40? Still an unbelievable hitter. I don't know what it is, but the story, the way it makes you feel when you're watching it. You get pumped up. It's unbelievable.
Blake Beavan, Mariners
Favorite sports movie: 61*
"61*, just because of the M&M story, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. I felt like they did a pretty good acting job in that movie and the storyline was good. I never knew Roger Maris had gone through all that and you could see how things were in that time. It's a good story and I know it won a lot of awards."
Favorite non-sports movie: The Mask
"If I had to pick one, it would probably be The Mask. I was a big Jim Carrey guy when I was growing up. That was the first Jim Carrey movie that I can remember. It had all the great one-liners and facial expressions. Jim Carrey is the man when it comes to that."
Tom Wilhelmsen, Mariners
Favorite sports movie: Bull Durham
"Bull Durham, because of the comedic value."
Favorite non-sports movie: Shawshank Redemption
"Shawshank Redemption: I just liked that he never gave up."
Sean Doolittle, A's
Favorite sports movie: D2: The Mighty Ducks
"I want to say Days of Thunder, because it's basically Top Gun but with race cars, if racing is considered a sport, but for serious, I'd have to say Mighty Ducks 2. That one was awesome. I couldn't get through that movie without putting on rollerblades and going outside to play street hockey with my brother and friends in the neighborhood."
Favorite non-sports movie: Top Gun
"Coming from a military family growing up, that was like a religion. We watched that movie religiously. I had aviators like them when I was a kid in all different colors. I had the gold ones, silver ones. Even when I was a kid, I knew all their call signs."
NL East
Brandon Beachy, Braves
Favorite sports movie: Rudy
"I grew up a huge Notre Dame fan and it's a great underdog story. I like everything about it."
Favorite non-sports movie: Shawshank Redemption
"It's incredibly clever and I love a good escape story. I think it is pretty much logically sound. It's pretty realistic for that time period."
Cole Hamels, Phillies
Favorite sports movie: Seabiscuit
"He is the ultimate underdog and something that proved everybody wrong. It gives a morale boost to anybody who people don't believe in."
Favorite non-sports movie: Star Wars
"As a kid, Star Wars was just the ultimate fantasy, sci-fi series. I had every action figure. I look forward to the new ones coming out. It's that different universe that would be cool to experience, even though we never will."
Steve Cishek, Marlins
Favorite sports movie: The Greatest Game Ever Played
"That's tough because I love sports movies. I've been spotted on a golf movie, 'The Greatest Game Ever Played.' It's a true story, and I love underdog stories. He's an amateur golfer who wins the U.S. Open. It's just an amazing story. It also takes place in Boston (where Cishek grew up near). I went to the movie with no expectations, and came out loving it."
Favorite non-sports movie: The Shawshank Redemption
"I just saw Gladiator, and that's up there. But probably Shawshank Redemption. It's just phenomenal. In college, I watched it for the first time. It had been out a while before I first saw it, but it just is an amazing story line."
Zack Wheeler, Mets
Favorite sports movie: Field of Dreams
"It's just a classic."
Favorite non-sports movie: Lone Survivor
"There's a lot of action. I like war movies and shooting and action and all that kind of stuff. It's really good."
Bryce Harper, Nationals
Favorite non-sports movie: The Town
"Every movie that Ben Affleck is in or made is unbelievable. I think he is great director, actor, everything. He is a special talent. I like watching all of his movies."
NL Central
Zack Cozart, Reds
Favorite sports and non-sports movie: Varsity Blues
"You know what? It might be the same movie to be honest with you. I love Varsity Blues. I was in high school, maybe younger, when it came out. It was just one of those movies that it was just like high school. You had the team parties. Everybody loves the football team. I could watch that movie a thousand times and probably tell you every line of the movie. There are only a few movies I can consistently watch over and over again and Varsity Blues is at the top of the list."
Matt Adams, Cardinals
Favorite sports movie: For Love of the Game
"It is a well-written movie that shows all the struggles that a baseball player goes through and what he has to overcome to become the best. The biggest thing that I took out of the movie was the distractions. You have to tunnel those distractions and stay keyed in on that game instead of what is going on outside of the field."
Favorite non-sports movie: The Hangover
"It was just a good quality comedy movie. They should have stopped with that one."
Khris Davis, Brewers
Favorite sports movie: Field of Dreams
"Field of Dreams, because it's a little gentler. I like that."
Favorite non-sports movie: Training Day
"Training Day, just because it's cool that Denzel is the bad guy."
Charlie Morton, Pirates
Favorite sports movie: For Love of the Game
"It's true ... guys might be in a certain frame of mind when they're pitching, and if you're thinking about a bunch of different things in your life not related to pitching, it can be disastrous, the biggest distraction ever. Yet sometimes it all clicks because you're NOT thinking about baseball. So I thought it was cool from that perspetive."
Favorite non-sports movie: Butterfly Effect
"I saw that when I was 18 or 19 ... it just makes you think about things differently."
Jason Hammel, Cubs
Favorite sports movie: Tin Cup
"I'm a golfer, big time. At the U.S. Open, if I was on the 18th green -- [there's a scene when] he keeps pulling a club out of the bag and keeps hitting one after another, that's kind of how I live my life, pretty reckless. No, just kidding [about being reckless]. It's a good movie. Very funny. I'm also a big fan of everything Kevin Costner does."
Favorite non-sports movie: Shawshank Redemption
"It's just a great story and the thinking that goes into it -- to write a story like that is impressive."
NL West
Andre Ethier, Dodgers
Favorite sports movie: The Sandlot
"My favorite sports movie, it's always been Sandlot, but lately I've been watching Rookie of the Year and I really like it a lot."
Favorite non-sports movie: Point Break
"My favorite all-time movie is Point Break, with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. I love it. It's the kind of movie that, when it's on, you stop what you're doing to watch it. I even have t-shirts from the movie with their pictures on it, I'm that big a fan."
Hunter Pence, Giants
Favorite sports movie: Bull Durham
"You can relate to it, having come up through the Minor Leagues. It's very similar to the truth."
Favorite non-sports movie: Cinderella Man
"I liked the integrity of the main character (Jimmy Braddock). I've watched it, like, six times."
Adam Ottavino, Rockies
Favorite non-sports movie: Goodfellas
"Goodfellas is a feeling. It gives you a feeling more than anything else. It's roller coaster ride. You get put into this life that you can never be a part of, and you almost feel like you are a part of it -- the good and the bad, for the whole thing. … Definitely, Joe Pesci is the man. he's hilarious in that movie. I love the way he talks. Obviously, I'm a New York guy. I like the way he talks. They were living in Brooklyn at that time. It's really cool because I could see the city the way it used to be, but you get a glimpse into a fantasy world.
Casey Kelly, Padres
Favorite sports movie: For Love of the Game
"I don't know if I should say this, but I like love stories. To have a sports movie with a love story attached it to? That's why it's my favorite movie. I've watched it probably 10, 15 times. It's one of those if it's on TV, I'll sit down and watch it every time. The baseball in the movie is actually good. I think that's why I like it. Having gone through some of the things he [Kevin Costner's character] has gone through in the movie, it's realistic."
Favorite non-sports movie: Never Back Down
"It's a movie not a lot of people have heard of. It's kind of like a modern-day 'Karate Kid' for UFC. One of my buddies had it three or four years ago and I had never watched it. It was one of those nights in Spring Training when you're tired and you've watched every movie already. I turned it one and I almost immediately wanted to go workout and do something active because it pumped me up so much. It was just a cool movie, it was based in Orlando so I knew some of the places it was shot at (Kelly is from Sarasota)."
Brandon McCarthy, D-backs
Favorite sports movie: For Love of the Game
"Actually, it's For Love of the Game. I thought it was just done well. It kind of captures what it's like in the game and the way mind works. I hear people complain about the love story all the time, but that's the way you have to make a movie. You can't just make a movie that appeals to a few thousand people. I don't know, every time that movie is on I'll watch it."
Favorite non-sports movie: Good Will Hunting
"Good Will Hunting. I just liked everything about it. I liked the dialogue, I liked the characters, I like the way the whole story went. There isn't a part of that movie I don't like."