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A 1989 movie about a RagtagBunchOfMisfits. In this case, they're the Cleveland Indians, a team that hadn't made a playoff appearance in over 30 years. No one in Cleveland knew who was on the team, which was a calculated move by Rachel Phelps (Margaret Whitton), the RichBitch team owner. It's all part of a ploy to get the franchise to fail so badly it will be moved out of blue-collar Cleveland and into sunny Florida. (If that sounds unrealistic, keep in mind, this was three years before the Florida Marlins were born, and seven years before the Cleveland ''Browns'' were moved to Baltimore.) To this end, she assembles the sorriest bunch of ballplayers she can find.
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A 1989 movie about a RagtagBunchOfMisfits. In this case, they're the Cleveland Indians, a team that hadn't made a playoff appearance in over 30 years. No one in Cleveland knew who was on the team, which was a calculated move by Rachel Phelps (Margaret Whitton), the RichBitch team owner. It's all part of a ploy to get the franchise to fail so badly it will be moved out of blue-collar Cleveland and into sunny Florida. (If that sounds unrealistic, keep in mind, this was three years before the Florida Marlins were born, and seven years before the Cleveland ''Browns'' were moved to Baltimore.) To this end, she assembles the sorriest bunch of ballplayers she can find.
find. If that sounds unrealistic, keep in mind, this was before either the Miami Marlins or Tampa Bay Rays existed, and seven years before the Cleveland ''Browns'' moved to Baltimore.
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A 1989 movie about a RagtagBunchOfMisfits. In this case, they're the Cleveland Indians, a team that hadn't made a playoff appearance in over 30 years. No one in Cleveland knew who was on the team, which was a calculated move by Rachel Phelps (Margaret Whitton), the RichBitch team owner. It's all a calculated move by her to get the franchise moved out of blue-collar Cleveland and into sunny FLorida. (If that sounds unrealistic, keep in mind, this was three years before the Florida Marlins were born, and seven years before the Cleveland ''Browns'' were moved to Baltimore.) To this end, she assembles the sorriest bunch of ballplayers she can find.
to:
A 1989 movie about a RagtagBunchOfMisfits. In this case, they're the Cleveland Indians, a team that hadn't made a playoff appearance in over 30 years. No one in Cleveland knew who was on the team, which was a calculated move by Rachel Phelps (Margaret Whitton), the RichBitch team owner. It's all part of a calculated move by her ploy to get the franchise to fail so badly it will be moved out of blue-collar Cleveland and into sunny FLorida.Florida. (If that sounds unrealistic, keep in mind, this was three years before the Florida Marlins were born, and seven years before the Cleveland ''Browns'' were moved to Baltimore.) To this end, she assembles the sorriest bunch of ballplayers she can find.
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A 1989 movie about a RagtagBunchOfMisfits. In this case, they're the Cleveland Indians, a team that hadn't made a playoff appearance in over 30 years. No one in Cleveland knew who was on the team, which was a calculated move by Rachel Phelps (Margaret Whitton), the RichBitch owner of the team, wanting them to fail badly so she could move them to Florida as she considers blue-collar Cleveland a dump. Keep in mind, this was three years before the Florida Marlins were born, and seven years before the Cleveland ''Browns'' were moved to Baltimore.
The characters included:
The characters included:
to:
A 1989 movie about a RagtagBunchOfMisfits. In this case, they're the Cleveland Indians, a team that hadn't made a playoff appearance in over 30 years. No one in Cleveland knew who was on the team, which was a calculated move by Rachel Phelps (Margaret Whitton), the RichBitch owner of the team, wanting them to fail badly so she could team owner. It's all a calculated move them by her to Florida as she considers get the franchise moved out of blue-collar Cleveland a dump. Keep and into sunny FLorida. (If that sounds unrealistic, keep in mind, this was three years before the Florida Marlins were born, and seven years before the Cleveland ''Browns'' were moved to Baltimore.
Baltimore.) To this end, she assembles the sorriest bunch of ballplayers she can find.
The charactersincluded:
include:
The characters
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* Roger Dorn (Corbin Bernsen), a third baseman who is the epitome of the prima donna, and who is more concerned with his endorsements and contract stipulations than his field play;
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* Roger Dorn (Corbin Bernsen), a third baseman who is the epitome of the prima donna, and who is more concerned with his endorsements and contract stipulations than his field play;
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** When Taylor takes him out to dinner, he chooses a place that requires ties. So he wears a tie...over his usual outfit. Vaughn's first line in the restaurant? "I [[WallStreet feel like a banker]]."
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** When Taylor takes him out to dinner, he chooses a place that requires ties. So he wears a tie...over his usual outfit. Vaughn's first line in the restaurant? "I [[WallStreet feel like a banker]].""
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* StrictlyFormula: The movie could not be more clichéd (misfit team pulls together to win). It gets away with this by doing the old (ancient!) formula ''really well'', which sometimes counts more than being original. TropesAreNotBad indeed.
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* DeomotedToExtra: Lynn Wells, Jake Taylor's LoveIntrest in the first movie, gets one scene in t he sequel and is never even mentioned again. The same can be said for Taylor himself, who is the main character of first movie, has a much smaller role in the second, and doesn't appear at all in the third.
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* DeomotedToExtra: DemotedToExtra: Lynn Wells, Jake Taylor's LoveIntrest LoveInterest in the first movie, gets one scene in t he sequel and is never even mentioned again. The same can be said for Taylor himself, who is the main character of first movie, has a much smaller role in the second, and doesn't appear at all in the third.
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*DeomotedToExtra: Lynn Wells, Jake Taylor's LoveIntrest in the first movie, gets one scene in t he sequel and is never even mentioned again. The same can be said for Taylor himself, who is the main character of first movie, has a much smaller role in the second, and doesn't appear at all in the third.
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* HypocriticalHumor: When Cerrano interrupts Harris' locker room prayer, Harris yells out in frustration, "Jesus Christ, Cerrano!"
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* HypocriticalHumor: When Cerrano interrupts Harris' locker room prayer, Harris yells out in frustration, "Jesus Christ, Cerrano!"Cerrano!" Harris is also reading a Playboy magazine on the airplane while mocking Cerrano's religion.
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** In fact, in his challenge to Cerrano in the 2nd movie, he has to consult a Japanese-to-English dictionary in the midst of his rage to find the words, and the best he can come up with is "You have no marbles!"
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** His description of opposing players is equally as colorful. His description of the Yankee's closer:
-->'''Doyle''': The Duke leads the league in saves, strikeouts per inning, and hit batsmen. This guy threw at his own kid during a father-son game.
-->'''Doyle''': The Duke leads the league in saves, strikeouts per inning, and hit batsmen. This guy threw at his own kid during a father-son game.
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* Willie Mays Hayes (Wesley Snipes), a leadoff man with Rickey Henderson-like speed on the basepaths who meekly pops out whenever he's at bat (thanks to his delusions of power).
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* Willie Mays Hayes (Wesley Snipes), a leadoff man with Rickey Henderson-like speed on the basepaths who meekly pops out whenever he's at bat (thanks to his delusions of power).being a power hitter).
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* Willie Mays Hayes (Wesley Snipes), a leadoff man with Rickey Henderson-like speed on the basepaths who meekly pops out whenever he's at bat.
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* Willie Mays Hayes (Wesley Snipes), a leadoff man with Rickey Henderson-like speed on the basepaths who meekly pops out whenever he's at bat.bat (thanks to his delusions of power).
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* SchmuckBait: Cerrano's last at bat in the 2nd movie. Parkman just called a fastball that Pedro missed by a mile.
-->'''Cerrano''': That last pitch, man...that was beautiful.
** Parkman calls the same pitch...and Cerrano crushes it.
-->'''Cerrano''': YEAH! Not as beautiful as that, though!
-->'''Cerrano''': That last pitch, man...that was beautiful.
** Parkman calls the same pitch...and Cerrano crushes it.
-->'''Cerrano''': YEAH! Not as beautiful as that, though!
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* IronicEcho: Second movie, before Cerrano's last at-bat:
-->'''Cerrano''': Parkman, my good friend. How you doin'?
-->'''Parkman''': Look at the scoreboard, Buddha, I'm doin' fine.
** After Cerrano hits a homer to give the Tribe the lead:
-->'''Cerrano''' ''(each syllable PunctuatedForEmphasis with a stomp towards and on home plate)'': Look at the scoreboard now, grasshopper!
-->'''Cerrano''': Parkman, my good friend. How you doin'?
-->'''Parkman''': Look at the scoreboard, Buddha, I'm doin' fine.
** After Cerrano hits a homer to give the Tribe the lead:
-->'''Cerrano''' ''(each syllable PunctuatedForEmphasis with a stomp towards and on home plate)'': Look at the scoreboard now, grasshopper!
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* SleevesAreForWimps: Vaughn has to be reminded that 'we wear sleeves in the majors.' During the American Express ad in the film, he's wearing a Tux with the sleaves torn off.
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* SleevesAreForWimps: Vaughn has to be reminded that 'we wear sleeves in the majors.' During the American Express ad in the film, he's wearing a Tux with the sleaves sleeves torn off.
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* TemptingFate: In the third movie, when Gus Cantrell asks God for a good player or just strike him dead right there, he's promptly knocked unconscious by a line drive.
** Of course, he wakes up to Cerrano's smiling face in the dugout...
** Of course, he wakes up to Cerrano's smiling face in the dugout...
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* TemptingFate: TemptingFate
** In the first movie, [[TheFundmentalist Harris]] steals "Jobu's" rum and snarls a curse at him. He is promptly hit on the head by a flying bat.
**In the third movie, when Gus Cantrell asks God for a good player or just strike him dead right there, he'spromptly knocked unconscious by a line drive.
**drive. Of course, he wakes up to Cerrano's smiling face in the dugout...
** In the first movie, [[TheFundmentalist Harris]] steals "Jobu's" rum and snarls a curse at him. He is promptly hit on the head by a flying bat.
**In the third movie, when Gus Cantrell asks God for a good player or just strike him dead right there, he's
**
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* GretzkyHasTheBall: in some places; in the second movie, Cerrano kills a bird with a swing; he goes into the outfield to mourn the bird and has to be tagged out. In Major League Baseball rules, he's out the moment he veers from the baseline. Averted well with the first movie, though.
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* GretzkyHasTheBall: in GretzkyHasTheBall:
** In some places; in the second movie, Cerrano kills a bird with a swing; he goes into the outfield to mourn the bird and has to be tagged out. In Major League Baseball rules, he's out the moment he veers from the baseline. Averted well with the first movie, though.
** Only eight spots in the batting order, not nine, elapse between Taylor's groundout in the 7th inning and his bunt single in the 9th. See the IMDb Goofs page.
** In some places; in the second movie, Cerrano kills a bird with a swing; he goes into the outfield to mourn the bird and has to be tagged out. In Major League Baseball rules, he's out the moment he veers from the baseline. Averted well with the first movie, though.
** Only eight spots in the batting order, not nine, elapse between Taylor's groundout in the 7th inning and his bunt single in the 9th. See the IMDb Goofs page.
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in fairness, Lou is probably simply making a guesstimate of where the Yankees will end up and how many games the Indians will thus need to win
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** Lou in the first movie saying it will take about 32 more wins to win the pennant. In real life calculating by number of wins doesn't work like that. Instead it's accumulation of their winning and teams ahead of them losing. So proclaiming that you need a certain number of wins to win it all is unrealistic and instead there usually is given a "Magic Number: which is any combination of wins by the team behind and loses by the team ahead and is usually calculated near the end of a season between two teams in the running. This is likely used in the movie because portraying it realistically would be too confusing for movie audiences.
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** In the first movie, Lou gives a couple of them: the "winning streak" speech, and the one he gives when he finds out about the SpringtimeForHitler plot (complete with showgirl visual aid).
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** In the first movie, two movies, Lou gives a couple of them: the "winning streak" speech, and the one he gives when he finds out about the SpringtimeForHitler plot (complete with showgirl visual aid).aid).
** Inverted with Rachel Phelps in the 2nd movie: After they win the first three games of the series, she gives a RousingSpeech designed to make them choke...and they lose the next three games.
** Inverted with Rachel Phelps in the 2nd movie: After they win the first three games of the series, she gives a RousingSpeech designed to make them choke...and they lose the next three games.
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** Of course, he wakes up to Cerrano's smiling face in the dugout...
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* ClevelandRocks: Phelps chose the Indians based on their mediocrity at the time
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* ClevelandRocks: UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}}: Phelps chose the Indians based on their mediocrity at the time
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* {{Malaproper}}: With Taka's first scene in ''Back to the Minors'':
-->'''Taka''': Family bicker. Customers complain. Everyone blames Taka. Have no...peace of brain!
-->'''Gus''': 'Peace of mind'.
-->'''Taka''': Same thing. *in Japanese* Is a duck's ass water-tight?
-->'''Taka''': Family bicker. Customers complain. Everyone blames Taka. Have no...peace of brain!
-->'''Gus''': 'Peace of mind'.
-->'''Taka''': Same thing. *in Japanese* Is a duck's ass water-tight?
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* CaptainErsatz: Averted quite refreshingly. Seriously, when was the last time you saw a sports movie that used real teams instead of obvious stand-ins?
** Major League Baseball has actually been very good to have movies using its image and likeness, as is the NBA. The NFL, however, not so much.
** Major League Baseball has actually been very good to have movies using its image and likeness, as is the NBA. The NFL, however, not so much.
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* CaptainErsatz: Averted quite refreshingly. Seriously, when was the last time you saw a sports movie that used real teams instead refreshingly, thanks to MLB's relaxed practices of obvious stand-ins?
** Major League Baseball has actually been very good to have movies usingletting films use its image images and likeness, logos, even for R-rated films such as is the NBA. The NFL, however, not so much.this and ''The Fan''.
** Major League Baseball has actually been very good to have movies using
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** Major League Baseball has actually been very good to have movies using its image and likeness, as is the NBA. The NFL, however, [[Film/TheReplacements not]] [[AnyGivenSunday so]] [[{{Playmakers}} much]].
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** Major League Baseball has actually been very good to have movies using its image and likeness, as is the NBA. The NFL, however, [[Film/TheReplacements not]] [[AnyGivenSunday so]] [[{{Playmakers}} much]].not so much.
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* DeadpanSnarker: Gus Cantrell in the third film.
**While watching his aging outfielder try to track down a fly ball.
-->'''Bench coach''': Got a late jump on it.
-->'''Gus''': Not only that, he ran in the same spot for too long.
** Then when he gives Pops a "gift" to signal a change in position.
-->'''Pops''': This is a first baseman's glove.
-->'''Gus''': Yeah, that's what the guy at the sporting goods place said.
**While watching his aging outfielder try to track down a fly ball.
-->'''Bench coach''': Got a late jump on it.
-->'''Gus''': Not only that, he ran in the same spot for too long.
** Then when he gives Pops a "gift" to signal a change in position.
-->'''Pops''': This is a first baseman's glove.
-->'''Gus''': Yeah, that's what the guy at the sporting goods place said.
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** The third film is a rare example of making both the heroes and their opposition (the Twins) a ragtag bunch of hapless players. The reason Dorn sets up the exhibition game between them is because he thinks the AAA club could actually beat his awful big-league team.
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** The third film is a rare example of making both the heroes and their opposition (the Twins) a ragtag bunch of hapless players. The reason Dorn sets up the exhibition game between them them, besides money, is because he thinks the AAA club could actually beat his awful big-league team.
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** The third film is a rare example of making both the heroes and their opposition (the Twins) a ragtag bunch of hapless players.
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** The third film is a rare example of making both the heroes and their opposition (the Twins) a ragtag bunch of hapless players. The reason Dorn sets up the exhibition game between them is because he thinks the AAA club could actually beat his awful big-league team.
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* DisproportionateRetribution: In the third movie, when Anderson hits a game-winning home run instead of laying down a bunt as he was told, he's benched for a 3-game series.
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* EvenTheSubtitlerIsStumped: With Taka several times in the third movie.
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* FunWithSubtitles: With Taka in the third movie.
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* {{Leitmotif}}: Several characters in each movie have their own.
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** The third film is a rare example of making both the heroes and their opposition (the Twins) a ragtag bunch of hapless players.
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* TemptingFate: In the third movie, when Gus Cantrell asks God for a good player or just strike him dead right there, he's promptly knocked unconscious by a line drive.
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* LookBehindYou: Haywood gets Hayes picked off of first by telling him his shoe's untied.
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* OhCrap: Rick's reaction in the first film to finding out his latest lay is [[spoiler: Dorn's wife.]]
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** Which, considering Doyle is doing play-by-play that's probably going to either local TV or the radio, wanders drunkenly into UnreliableNarrator territory. "You know, it's [[BlatantLies hard to imagine]] they're not swinging at pitches this close!"
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-->'''Haywood''': [[SarcasmMode You really knocked the crap out of that one.]]
** During Vaughn's streak of 12 consecutive balls: "You know, it's [[BlatantLies hard to imagine]] they're not swinging at pitches this close!"
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* HypocriticalHumor: When Cerrano interrupts Harris' locker room prayer, Harris yells out in frustration, "Jesus Christ, Cerrano!"
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* LighterAndSofter: The PG-rated ''Major League 2'' was this to the R-rated original, which featured much more adult content and was significantly darker in tone.
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/major_league_3663.jpg]]
A 1989 movie about a RagtagBunchOfMisfits. In this case, they're the Cleveland Indians, a team that hadn't made a playoff appearance in over 30 years. No one in Cleveland knew who was on the team, which was a calculated move by Rachel Phelps (Margaret Whitton), the RichBitch owner of the team, wanting them to fail badly so she could move them to Florida as she considers blue-collar Cleveland a dump. Keep in mind, this was three years before the Florida Marlins were born, and seven years before the Cleveland ''Browns'' were moved to Baltimore.
The characters included:
* Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn (CharlieSheen), a recently released felon with a blazing fastball and control issues (both with his pitching and his temper);
* Jake Taylor (Tom Berenger), a catcher a decade past his prime and who never got over the one he let get away (Rene Russo);
* Roger Dorn (Corbin Bernsen), a third baseman who is the epitome of the prima donna, and who is more concerned with his endorsements and contract stipulations than his field play;
* Willie Mays Hayes (Wesley Snipes), a leadoff man with Rickey Henderson-like speed on the basepaths who meekly pops out whenever he's at bat.
* Pedro Cerrano (Dennis Haysbert), a voodoo-practicing power hitter who can't hit a curveball.
* Lou Brown (James Gammon), a tire salesman (and career minor league manager) who's tapped to be the manager who presides over the madhouse.
Throughout the movie, all of the new Indians' various quirks are revealed. Dorn's rookie pranks on Vaughn earn him more than a few fights, and Vaughn later sleeps with Dorn's wife (though he didn't know who she was at the time); Taylor fights to get his ex back from her new socialite boyfriend; Cerrano prays to Jobu many times, but doesn't get any closer to hitting a curveball; and Lou tries to get Hayes to hit like a leadoff man rather than a cleanup hitter.
Eventually, the owner's scheme is revealed to the team, and they go from worst to first (well, tied for first) with visual aid help from her... showgirl days. They're forced into a one-game playoff with the Yankees for the American League East title, and the ending is one of the more inventive DownToTheLastPlay endings in sports movie history.
The film spawned a sequel in 1994, changing leadoff men (Hayes is still there; he's just played by Omar Epps) and leading men (Berenger for Sheen). Here, Vaughn has let the fame of the previous year go to his head, mostly seeking lucrative endorsement deals. This is elaborated by having to choose between two LoveInterests, publicist Rebecca Flannery (AllisonDoody), and philanthropist Nikki Reese (MichelleBurke). One wants to build his image, the other to keep him down-to-earth.
The other team members have their own subplots. Taylor is cut from the team for the new rookie Rube (a country boy who can't throw the ball back to the pitcher) and big offseason acquisition Jack Parkman (a no-nonsense guy who is pretty much the epitome of "clubhouse cancer", but is a very good hitter), but is retained as one of Lou's assistant managers; Dorn is retired and has bought the team, but has to sell it back to the RichBitch after financial troubles force him to trade Parkman; Cerrano, having converted to Buddhism, is now a happy guy who's lost his edge until he's challenged by Japanese acquisition Taka Tanaka; Hayes, like Vaughn, let the previous year go to his head; he shot a movie with Jessie Ventura in the offseason and lost his edge on the basepaths. Another worst-to-first comeback ensues, though under the guidance of Taylor after Lou has a heart attack; the DownToTheLastPlay ending in this one is a lot less inventive than the first. The sequel coincided with the real-life Tribe's 1990s resurgence (where they went to World Series in 1995 and 1997; in the 1997 Series they lost to the Florida Marlins, in what some would call [[{{Irony}} ironic]]).
In 1998, another sequel, ''Major League: Back to the Minors,'' came out, which focused on a minor league team (The Salt Lake Buzz) with a new manager (played by Scott Bakula) and a pretty much all new cast of characters. The only carryovers from the original movies are Dorn (who now owns the Minnesota Twins, who the Buzz are the AAA farm team), Cerrano, Tanaka, Baker (who are players on the team), and Harry Doyle (Bob Uecker, the announcer). This one focuses mostly on Bakula's manager, especially with his teaching methods with a hot batting prospect and a pitching prospect who has a blazing fastball but no other pitches, and his battles with the manager of the Twins (played by {{Ted McGinley}}, signifying the series' JumpTheShark moment).
A [[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/charlie-sheen-play-mentor-role-160412 fourth movie]] is reportedly in the works.
----
This film series provides examples of:
* ArtisticLicense: Even if they are nobodies, they're playing in the big leagues, and in real life the players' union would never tolerate the indignities the Indians are subjected to (bus travel, no training equipment, etc.).
** Lou in the first movie saying it will take about 32 more wins to win the pennant. In real life calculating by number of wins doesn't work like that. Instead it's accumulation of their winning and teams ahead of them losing. So proclaiming that you need a certain number of wins to win it all is unrealistic and instead there usually is given a "Magic Number: which is any combination of wins by the team behind and loses by the team ahead and is usually calculated near the end of a season between two teams in the running. This is likely used in the movie because portraying it realistically would be too confusing for movie audiences.
* BadassGrandpa: Lou. He pulls this RagtagBunchOfMisfits into a [[BadassCrew badass ball team]]. He's a tough disciplinarian but clearly loves the colorful and crazed players he's got.
** He also bears a BadassMustache.
* BaldOfAwesome: Cerrano. We even see him shaving for the coolness... ''using a big-ass knife''.
* BigGame: An EnforcedTrope in all three films.
* {{Bowdlerise}}: Sits with ''Die Hard 2'' and ''The Big Lebowski'' as maybe the funniest dubbed-over-cussing TV edits in existance (for example, Dorn's IHaveJustOneThingToSay speech below replaces "motherfucker" with "guy" in a completely different inflection, sort of like what you got from the announcers in the early [[VideoGame/MaddenNFL Madden]] Playstation games).
* CaliforniaDoubling: The scenes set in the Indians' home park were actually filmed in Milwaukee's County Stadium, then-home of the Brewers. Averted, however, in the case of the spring training scenes, which were filmed at Tucson's Hi Corbett Field, which was the Indians' actual spring training park at the time.
** In the second movie, Oriole Park at Camden Yards doubled as Cleveland Stadium.
** In the third movie, College Park at the College of Charleston acted as the Salt Lake Buzz's stadium. Averted with the big-league club; the fact that the movie got permission to use the Metrodome as a filming location is why the Buzz are a farm team of the Twins in the movie.
* CaptainErsatz: Averted quite refreshingly. Seriously, when was the last time you saw a sports movie that used real teams instead of obvious stand-ins?
** Major League Baseball has actually been very good to have movies using its image and likeness, as is the NBA. The NFL, however, [[Film/TheReplacements not]] [[AnyGivenSunday so]] [[{{Playmakers}} much]].
* CatchPhrase: "Juuuuuuust a bit outside." Though it was only said once, it's now all Bob Uecker's.
* CheckPlease: Vaughn uses it when Dorn's wife seduces him
* ClevelandRocks: Phelps chose the Indians based on their mediocrity at the time
* {{Defictionalization}}: Uecker was in the middle of his long solid career as a RealLife game announcer for the Brewers. After the first movie came out he did more national games and World Series coverage during TheNineties.
** When the real-life Indians games at Jacobs Field were snowed out in 2007, they played the series in Milwaukee. (Granted, it was in Miller Park as County Stadium was gone, but still....) Had the series been played in Cleveland, the Indians were going to give away Rick Vaughn-style glasses.
** The Rick Vaughn bobblehead.
** Many RealLife relief pitchers now have a ThemeSong that plays when they come in, in imitation of Rick Vaughn's ''Wild Thing'' intro.
** Mitch Williams of the Philadephia Phillies, known for his lack of control much like Ricky Vaughn, acquired the nickname "Wild Thing" not long after this movie. He also switched his jersey number to 99... just like Vaughn.
* DownToTheLastPlay: The first movie has an inventive twist, but the other two play it pretty much dead straight.
* FatherToHisMen: Lou proves to be a solid coach - demanding when needed, defending his players when it becomes known the bitch owner is screwing the team.
* ForeignCussword: When Rachel Phelps buys back the team in the sequel and taunts her way through the locker, Tanaka is able to toss some vicious insults at Phelps in his native Japanese. Since he does it with a polite smile and bow, Phelps thinks he's complimenting her.
** Similarly, the Asian groundskeepers in the first movie. "They're shitty" indeed.
* [[GoshDangItToHeck Gul Dernit to Heck!]]: Rube expresses his frustration with every minced oath in the book. You can tell [[LetsGetDangerous he's getting serious]] when he starts using real cuss words.
* GreekChorus: Harry Doyle and various fans.
* GretzkyHasTheBall: in some places; in the second movie, Cerrano kills a bird with a swing; he goes into the outfield to mourn the bird and has to be tagged out. In Major League Baseball rules, he's out the moment he veers from the baseline. Averted well with the first movie, though.
* GroinAttack: When Vaughn hits a cardboard pitching dummy during spring training. ''The dummy collapses in pain''.
** He also takes a dummy's head off with a pitch.
* HollywoodHeartAttack: Averted with Lou's. One, he doesn't actually die from it; two, no one actually knows he's having one because he's in the middle of chewing out his players at the time.
--> '''Lou''': Taylor, it's not your job to make excuses. ''That's all you guys do good! It's either a '''leg''' thing, or a '''spiritual''' thing, or a '''psychological''' thing, or a '''heart attack'''''!\\
'''Jake''': Who used heart attack?\\
'''Lou''': Me. ''(collapses)''
* IHaveJustOneThingToSay: "Strike this motherfucker ''out''!"
* INeedAFreakingDrink: In the second movie Bob Uecker (Harry Doyle) starts opening day drinking Avian water, but switches to beer when the Indians lose, piling up empty bottles and moving on to hard liquor as the season progresses and things get worse and worse. Eventually, he passes out wearing a wifebeater, leaving the announcing to his hapless partner. Fortunately, he improves when the team does.
* ImportantHaircut: In the second movie, Vaughn adopts a "corporate" image thanks to his new girlfriend and publicist, Rebecca Flannery. This includes him wearing suits and doing a commercial for Right Guard Sport Stick at a country club. He also gets rid of his trademark haircut from the first film. This new persona lasts until the final scene, where we see him now sporting his infamous hairdo once again, thereby shedding his "corporate" image and returning to his "Wild Thing" persona.
** Everything Vaughn does in that scene shows that "Wild Thing" has returned. Just before he comes out, Vaughn, off screen, finally tells off the obnoxious Indians fan who had been pestering him and insulting him throughout the film. The fan sees that "Wild Thing" has returned before we do and immediately shuts his mouth. Afterwards, he comes out of the bullpen wearing his leather vest from the original. Once people notice that "Wild Thing" has returned, the song "Wild Thing" is played over the stadium's P.A. system as Vaughn walks to the mound, recreating a scene from the first film. Vaughn then pitches while wearing his skull and crossbones glasses that he hadn't worn in the second film up to that point. All of this leads to him showing that he's gotten his intensity back and now remembers how to throw a fastball after apparently having forgotten how to do so.
*** [[spoiler:Then, after the Indians win the pennant, he dumps Rebecca after telling her that she's much too good for him and gets back together with his ex-girlfriend, Nikki, the woman who helped him bring back "Wild Thing".]]
* MiracleRally: Straight from Worst to First in all three movies.
* NerdGlasses: Rick Vaughn was fitted with them in the first movie.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Harris, the old pitcher who uses an assortment of hidden greases and gels (and occasionally his own snot) to load the ball, is clearly based on famed spitballer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaylord_Perry Gaylord Perry]].
* OpposingSportsTeam: The New York Yankees in the first movie, the Chicago White Sox in the second, and the Minnesota Twins in the third.
* OverlyNarrowSuperlative: In the intro to the second film, Vaughn is described as setting a record for strike-outs in one season by an ex-con.
* ParodyCommercial: American Express in the first movie ("Don't steal home without it!") and Right Guard in the second ("Anything less would be uncivilized... upside down!")
* PoorPredictableRock: Hog Ellis in the third movie is a pitcher who can throw a dizzying fastball and that's it. He learns a decent curveball in in the last third or so of the movie, but that's still a very limited repertoire for a star pitcher (which is, of course, why he's still in the minors in the first place, though generally he'd be in ''single''-A ball rather than triple-A.)
* PromotionalConsideration: Parodied when Doyle can't find who the sponsors are for the post-game show. "Christ, I can't find it. To hell with it!"
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: In the first movie, the team was literally built to lose. Dang, huh?
* ReligiousRussianRoulette: Pedro Cerrano threatens to leave Jobu unless he helps him hit a curveball. Then he does in his last at-bat:
-->"I say fuck you, Jobu. I do it myself".
* RichBitch: Rachel Phelps
* RousingSpeech: Lampshaded in the second movie, when Brown (in the hospital pending heart surgery) tells Taylor (who will be managing the team in the decisive playoff game that night) not to do it; Taylor does it anyway, complete with a thick layer of {{Narm}}. Subverted in the third movie, when Cantrell says how he hates the Rousing Speech, but it's "in my contract"... then tells his team to "win this one... for me."
** In the first movie, Lou gives a couple of them: the "winning streak" speech, and the one he gives when he finds out about the SpringtimeForHitler plot (complete with showgirl visual aid).
* SequelReset[=/=]SequelEscalation: They celebrated like they'd won the World Series in the first movie, only to lose the ALCS after.
* SleevesAreForWimps: Vaughn has to be reminded that 'we wear sleeves in the majors.' During the American Express ad in the film, he's wearing a Tux with the sleaves torn off.
** When Taylor takes him out to dinner, he chooses a place that requires ties. So he wears a tie...over his usual outfit. Vaughn's first line in the restaurant? "I [[WallStreet feel like a banker]]."
* SpinningPaper: Well, not spinning, but the worst-to-first montages captured shots from the wins in paper form.
* SpringtimeForHitler: Rachel's scheme to move the Indians to Miami in the first movie.
* ThisTropeIsBleep: The television edit of the film for TBS and syndication is just as enjoyable as the original, if only because of the silly words (and substitute dubbers who sound nothing like their actor counterparts) replacing the cursing.
* TribalFacePaint: When the Indians are close to winning the division we see a sportscaster dressed in full (sterotypical) Indian gear including a Chief-sized feather headdress and warpaint.
** This is, of course, TruthInTelevision for die-hard Cleveland Indians fans (as well as Atlanta Braves fans, Washington Redskins fans, and Florida State Seminoles fans.)
* {{Understatement}}: The aforementioned "Juuuuuuuuuuust a bit outside..."
** Which, considering Doyle is doing play-by-play that's probably going to either local TV or the radio, wanders drunkenly into UnreliableNarrator territory. "You know, it's [[BlatantLies hard to imagine]] they're not swinging at pitches this close!"
----
A 1989 movie about a RagtagBunchOfMisfits. In this case, they're the Cleveland Indians, a team that hadn't made a playoff appearance in over 30 years. No one in Cleveland knew who was on the team, which was a calculated move by Rachel Phelps (Margaret Whitton), the RichBitch owner of the team, wanting them to fail badly so she could move them to Florida as she considers blue-collar Cleveland a dump. Keep in mind, this was three years before the Florida Marlins were born, and seven years before the Cleveland ''Browns'' were moved to Baltimore.
The characters included:
* Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn (CharlieSheen), a recently released felon with a blazing fastball and control issues (both with his pitching and his temper);
* Jake Taylor (Tom Berenger), a catcher a decade past his prime and who never got over the one he let get away (Rene Russo);
* Roger Dorn (Corbin Bernsen), a third baseman who is the epitome of the prima donna, and who is more concerned with his endorsements and contract stipulations than his field play;
* Willie Mays Hayes (Wesley Snipes), a leadoff man with Rickey Henderson-like speed on the basepaths who meekly pops out whenever he's at bat.
* Pedro Cerrano (Dennis Haysbert), a voodoo-practicing power hitter who can't hit a curveball.
* Lou Brown (James Gammon), a tire salesman (and career minor league manager) who's tapped to be the manager who presides over the madhouse.
Throughout the movie, all of the new Indians' various quirks are revealed. Dorn's rookie pranks on Vaughn earn him more than a few fights, and Vaughn later sleeps with Dorn's wife (though he didn't know who she was at the time); Taylor fights to get his ex back from her new socialite boyfriend; Cerrano prays to Jobu many times, but doesn't get any closer to hitting a curveball; and Lou tries to get Hayes to hit like a leadoff man rather than a cleanup hitter.
Eventually, the owner's scheme is revealed to the team, and they go from worst to first (well, tied for first) with visual aid help from her... showgirl days. They're forced into a one-game playoff with the Yankees for the American League East title, and the ending is one of the more inventive DownToTheLastPlay endings in sports movie history.
The film spawned a sequel in 1994, changing leadoff men (Hayes is still there; he's just played by Omar Epps) and leading men (Berenger for Sheen). Here, Vaughn has let the fame of the previous year go to his head, mostly seeking lucrative endorsement deals. This is elaborated by having to choose between two LoveInterests, publicist Rebecca Flannery (AllisonDoody), and philanthropist Nikki Reese (MichelleBurke). One wants to build his image, the other to keep him down-to-earth.
The other team members have their own subplots. Taylor is cut from the team for the new rookie Rube (a country boy who can't throw the ball back to the pitcher) and big offseason acquisition Jack Parkman (a no-nonsense guy who is pretty much the epitome of "clubhouse cancer", but is a very good hitter), but is retained as one of Lou's assistant managers; Dorn is retired and has bought the team, but has to sell it back to the RichBitch after financial troubles force him to trade Parkman; Cerrano, having converted to Buddhism, is now a happy guy who's lost his edge until he's challenged by Japanese acquisition Taka Tanaka; Hayes, like Vaughn, let the previous year go to his head; he shot a movie with Jessie Ventura in the offseason and lost his edge on the basepaths. Another worst-to-first comeback ensues, though under the guidance of Taylor after Lou has a heart attack; the DownToTheLastPlay ending in this one is a lot less inventive than the first. The sequel coincided with the real-life Tribe's 1990s resurgence (where they went to World Series in 1995 and 1997; in the 1997 Series they lost to the Florida Marlins, in what some would call [[{{Irony}} ironic]]).
In 1998, another sequel, ''Major League: Back to the Minors,'' came out, which focused on a minor league team (The Salt Lake Buzz) with a new manager (played by Scott Bakula) and a pretty much all new cast of characters. The only carryovers from the original movies are Dorn (who now owns the Minnesota Twins, who the Buzz are the AAA farm team), Cerrano, Tanaka, Baker (who are players on the team), and Harry Doyle (Bob Uecker, the announcer). This one focuses mostly on Bakula's manager, especially with his teaching methods with a hot batting prospect and a pitching prospect who has a blazing fastball but no other pitches, and his battles with the manager of the Twins (played by {{Ted McGinley}}, signifying the series' JumpTheShark moment).
A [[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/charlie-sheen-play-mentor-role-160412 fourth movie]] is reportedly in the works.
----
This film series provides examples of:
* ArtisticLicense: Even if they are nobodies, they're playing in the big leagues, and in real life the players' union would never tolerate the indignities the Indians are subjected to (bus travel, no training equipment, etc.).
** Lou in the first movie saying it will take about 32 more wins to win the pennant. In real life calculating by number of wins doesn't work like that. Instead it's accumulation of their winning and teams ahead of them losing. So proclaiming that you need a certain number of wins to win it all is unrealistic and instead there usually is given a "Magic Number: which is any combination of wins by the team behind and loses by the team ahead and is usually calculated near the end of a season between two teams in the running. This is likely used in the movie because portraying it realistically would be too confusing for movie audiences.
* BadassGrandpa: Lou. He pulls this RagtagBunchOfMisfits into a [[BadassCrew badass ball team]]. He's a tough disciplinarian but clearly loves the colorful and crazed players he's got.
** He also bears a BadassMustache.
* BaldOfAwesome: Cerrano. We even see him shaving for the coolness... ''using a big-ass knife''.
* BigGame: An EnforcedTrope in all three films.
* {{Bowdlerise}}: Sits with ''Die Hard 2'' and ''The Big Lebowski'' as maybe the funniest dubbed-over-cussing TV edits in existance (for example, Dorn's IHaveJustOneThingToSay speech below replaces "motherfucker" with "guy" in a completely different inflection, sort of like what you got from the announcers in the early [[VideoGame/MaddenNFL Madden]] Playstation games).
* CaliforniaDoubling: The scenes set in the Indians' home park were actually filmed in Milwaukee's County Stadium, then-home of the Brewers. Averted, however, in the case of the spring training scenes, which were filmed at Tucson's Hi Corbett Field, which was the Indians' actual spring training park at the time.
** In the second movie, Oriole Park at Camden Yards doubled as Cleveland Stadium.
** In the third movie, College Park at the College of Charleston acted as the Salt Lake Buzz's stadium. Averted with the big-league club; the fact that the movie got permission to use the Metrodome as a filming location is why the Buzz are a farm team of the Twins in the movie.
* CaptainErsatz: Averted quite refreshingly. Seriously, when was the last time you saw a sports movie that used real teams instead of obvious stand-ins?
** Major League Baseball has actually been very good to have movies using its image and likeness, as is the NBA. The NFL, however, [[Film/TheReplacements not]] [[AnyGivenSunday so]] [[{{Playmakers}} much]].
* CatchPhrase: "Juuuuuuust a bit outside." Though it was only said once, it's now all Bob Uecker's.
* CheckPlease: Vaughn uses it when Dorn's wife seduces him
* ClevelandRocks: Phelps chose the Indians based on their mediocrity at the time
* {{Defictionalization}}: Uecker was in the middle of his long solid career as a RealLife game announcer for the Brewers. After the first movie came out he did more national games and World Series coverage during TheNineties.
** When the real-life Indians games at Jacobs Field were snowed out in 2007, they played the series in Milwaukee. (Granted, it was in Miller Park as County Stadium was gone, but still....) Had the series been played in Cleveland, the Indians were going to give away Rick Vaughn-style glasses.
** The Rick Vaughn bobblehead.
** Many RealLife relief pitchers now have a ThemeSong that plays when they come in, in imitation of Rick Vaughn's ''Wild Thing'' intro.
** Mitch Williams of the Philadephia Phillies, known for his lack of control much like Ricky Vaughn, acquired the nickname "Wild Thing" not long after this movie. He also switched his jersey number to 99... just like Vaughn.
* DownToTheLastPlay: The first movie has an inventive twist, but the other two play it pretty much dead straight.
* FatherToHisMen: Lou proves to be a solid coach - demanding when needed, defending his players when it becomes known the bitch owner is screwing the team.
* ForeignCussword: When Rachel Phelps buys back the team in the sequel and taunts her way through the locker, Tanaka is able to toss some vicious insults at Phelps in his native Japanese. Since he does it with a polite smile and bow, Phelps thinks he's complimenting her.
** Similarly, the Asian groundskeepers in the first movie. "They're shitty" indeed.
* [[GoshDangItToHeck Gul Dernit to Heck!]]: Rube expresses his frustration with every minced oath in the book. You can tell [[LetsGetDangerous he's getting serious]] when he starts using real cuss words.
* GreekChorus: Harry Doyle and various fans.
* GretzkyHasTheBall: in some places; in the second movie, Cerrano kills a bird with a swing; he goes into the outfield to mourn the bird and has to be tagged out. In Major League Baseball rules, he's out the moment he veers from the baseline. Averted well with the first movie, though.
* GroinAttack: When Vaughn hits a cardboard pitching dummy during spring training. ''The dummy collapses in pain''.
** He also takes a dummy's head off with a pitch.
* HollywoodHeartAttack: Averted with Lou's. One, he doesn't actually die from it; two, no one actually knows he's having one because he's in the middle of chewing out his players at the time.
--> '''Lou''': Taylor, it's not your job to make excuses. ''That's all you guys do good! It's either a '''leg''' thing, or a '''spiritual''' thing, or a '''psychological''' thing, or a '''heart attack'''''!\\
'''Jake''': Who used heart attack?\\
'''Lou''': Me. ''(collapses)''
* IHaveJustOneThingToSay: "Strike this motherfucker ''out''!"
* INeedAFreakingDrink: In the second movie Bob Uecker (Harry Doyle) starts opening day drinking Avian water, but switches to beer when the Indians lose, piling up empty bottles and moving on to hard liquor as the season progresses and things get worse and worse. Eventually, he passes out wearing a wifebeater, leaving the announcing to his hapless partner. Fortunately, he improves when the team does.
* ImportantHaircut: In the second movie, Vaughn adopts a "corporate" image thanks to his new girlfriend and publicist, Rebecca Flannery. This includes him wearing suits and doing a commercial for Right Guard Sport Stick at a country club. He also gets rid of his trademark haircut from the first film. This new persona lasts until the final scene, where we see him now sporting his infamous hairdo once again, thereby shedding his "corporate" image and returning to his "Wild Thing" persona.
** Everything Vaughn does in that scene shows that "Wild Thing" has returned. Just before he comes out, Vaughn, off screen, finally tells off the obnoxious Indians fan who had been pestering him and insulting him throughout the film. The fan sees that "Wild Thing" has returned before we do and immediately shuts his mouth. Afterwards, he comes out of the bullpen wearing his leather vest from the original. Once people notice that "Wild Thing" has returned, the song "Wild Thing" is played over the stadium's P.A. system as Vaughn walks to the mound, recreating a scene from the first film. Vaughn then pitches while wearing his skull and crossbones glasses that he hadn't worn in the second film up to that point. All of this leads to him showing that he's gotten his intensity back and now remembers how to throw a fastball after apparently having forgotten how to do so.
*** [[spoiler:Then, after the Indians win the pennant, he dumps Rebecca after telling her that she's much too good for him and gets back together with his ex-girlfriend, Nikki, the woman who helped him bring back "Wild Thing".]]
* MiracleRally: Straight from Worst to First in all three movies.
* NerdGlasses: Rick Vaughn was fitted with them in the first movie.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Harris, the old pitcher who uses an assortment of hidden greases and gels (and occasionally his own snot) to load the ball, is clearly based on famed spitballer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaylord_Perry Gaylord Perry]].
* OpposingSportsTeam: The New York Yankees in the first movie, the Chicago White Sox in the second, and the Minnesota Twins in the third.
* OverlyNarrowSuperlative: In the intro to the second film, Vaughn is described as setting a record for strike-outs in one season by an ex-con.
* ParodyCommercial: American Express in the first movie ("Don't steal home without it!") and Right Guard in the second ("Anything less would be uncivilized... upside down!")
* PoorPredictableRock: Hog Ellis in the third movie is a pitcher who can throw a dizzying fastball and that's it. He learns a decent curveball in in the last third or so of the movie, but that's still a very limited repertoire for a star pitcher (which is, of course, why he's still in the minors in the first place, though generally he'd be in ''single''-A ball rather than triple-A.)
* PromotionalConsideration: Parodied when Doyle can't find who the sponsors are for the post-game show. "Christ, I can't find it. To hell with it!"
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: In the first movie, the team was literally built to lose. Dang, huh?
* ReligiousRussianRoulette: Pedro Cerrano threatens to leave Jobu unless he helps him hit a curveball. Then he does in his last at-bat:
-->"I say fuck you, Jobu. I do it myself".
* RichBitch: Rachel Phelps
* RousingSpeech: Lampshaded in the second movie, when Brown (in the hospital pending heart surgery) tells Taylor (who will be managing the team in the decisive playoff game that night) not to do it; Taylor does it anyway, complete with a thick layer of {{Narm}}. Subverted in the third movie, when Cantrell says how he hates the Rousing Speech, but it's "in my contract"... then tells his team to "win this one... for me."
** In the first movie, Lou gives a couple of them: the "winning streak" speech, and the one he gives when he finds out about the SpringtimeForHitler plot (complete with showgirl visual aid).
* SequelReset[=/=]SequelEscalation: They celebrated like they'd won the World Series in the first movie, only to lose the ALCS after.
* SleevesAreForWimps: Vaughn has to be reminded that 'we wear sleeves in the majors.' During the American Express ad in the film, he's wearing a Tux with the sleaves torn off.
** When Taylor takes him out to dinner, he chooses a place that requires ties. So he wears a tie...over his usual outfit. Vaughn's first line in the restaurant? "I [[WallStreet feel like a banker]]."
* SpinningPaper: Well, not spinning, but the worst-to-first montages captured shots from the wins in paper form.
* SpringtimeForHitler: Rachel's scheme to move the Indians to Miami in the first movie.
* ThisTropeIsBleep: The television edit of the film for TBS and syndication is just as enjoyable as the original, if only because of the silly words (and substitute dubbers who sound nothing like their actor counterparts) replacing the cursing.
* TribalFacePaint: When the Indians are close to winning the division we see a sportscaster dressed in full (sterotypical) Indian gear including a Chief-sized feather headdress and warpaint.
** This is, of course, TruthInTelevision for die-hard Cleveland Indians fans (as well as Atlanta Braves fans, Washington Redskins fans, and Florida State Seminoles fans.)
* {{Understatement}}: The aforementioned "Juuuuuuuuuuust a bit outside..."
** Which, considering Doyle is doing play-by-play that's probably going to either local TV or the radio, wanders drunkenly into UnreliableNarrator territory. "You know, it's [[BlatantLies hard to imagine]] they're not swinging at pitches this close!"
----
