The bicentennial: Looking at the state's best sports movies
I was pleased to see that three sports movies made the bicentennial list of top 10 Illinois films. "A League of Their Own," based on the history of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, was ranked at number three. "Eight Men Out," the story of the 1919 Black Sox scandal, was number eight, followed by the high-school basketball documentary "Hoop Dreams" at number nine.
Of the three sports films, I would have ranked "Eight Men Out" and "Hoop Dreams" higher than "A League of Their Own." While "A League of Their Own" is funny and entertaining, "Eight Men Out," based on the critically acclaimed book by Eliot Asinof, is one of baseball's most realistic and historically accurate movies. "Hoop Dreams," the story of the aspirations and struggles of two Chicago high school basketball players, was produced by SIU alum Steve James and won the Sundance Film Festival Award for best documentary.
Missing from the list of Illinois' top films is "The Stratton Story," one of baseball's most popular and inspirational movies. Released in 1949, it's the story of White Sox pitcher Monty Stratton, who in the prime of his career lost his right leg in a hunting accident. The story of Stratton's life is so well told that the movie won an Academy Award for best original screenplay.
The right-handed Monty Stratton made his big-league debut in 1934 with the Chicago White Sox. In 1937, he was selected to the All-Star game on his way to 15 wins and the second best earned run average in the American League. In 1938, he established himself as one of the American League's best pitchers with another 15-win season.
On Nov. 27, 1938, Stratton tripped and accidentally shot himself in the right leg while hunting rabbits. The wound was so severe that doctors had to amputate the leg just above the knee. Remarkably, with the use of a wooden leg, he pitched again in professional baseball. In 1946, he won 18 games with Sherman in the Class C East Texas League. In 1947, he went 7-7 with Waco in the Class B State League.
When Hollywood became interested in telling Monty Stratton's story, he ended his playing career and became an adviser during the making of the movie. Though Ronald Reagan badly wanted to play Stratton, the role went to Jimmy Stewart, who was paired with June Allyson in the role of Stratton's devoted wife, who helps him with his comeback. The pairing was so successful that Stewart and Allyson made two more movies together, "The Glenn Miller Story" and "Strategic Air Command."
What gives "The Stratton Story" its air of authenticity is the use of major league players, including Stratton's White Sox manager, Jimmy Dykes, and Yankees Hall-of-Famer Bill Dickey, in key roles. Dozens of others make cameo appearances in game action, including the climatic All-Star game, where the opposing team bunts the ball to take advantage of Stratton's handicap. Stewart was so convincing as Stratton that he went on to play another major league ballplayer, this time a St. Louis Cardinal, in "Strategic Air Command."
After Stratton overcomes his struggle to run the bases and field his position, the movie ends with a voiceover declaring, "He stands as an inspiration to all of us, of living proof of what one man can do if he has the courage and determination to refuse to admit defeat." I was 10 years old when I saw "The Stratton Story" for the first time, and those words convinced this short, skinny working-class kid that he could become a big league ballplayer.
Unlike Monty Stratton, I never made it to the big leagues and never lost a leg, though I shattered an elbow playing ball and ended up with a crooked arm. I did, however, marry Anita, who is every bit as pretty and charming as June Allyson and just as strong and supportive as the June Allyson character in "The Stratton Story," even when her husband acts as if he has a wooden head.
• Reading Baseball is a series of stories and commentaries by Richard "Pete" Peterson, co-author with his son Stephen of "The Slide: Leyland, Bonds and the Star-Crossed Pittsburgh Pirates" and the editor of The St. Louis Baseball Reader. His essays appear regularly in the Times.