History Film / MajorLeague

* PrecisionFStrike: Dorn approaches Vaughn on the mound when he comes in to pitch to Haywood in the final game, and Vaughn is expecting to get his ass kicked for sleeping with Dorn’s wife. Instead, we get this gem:

* 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.

* CripplingOverspecialization: Downtown Anderson in ''Back to the Minors'' is a gifted hitter, but is exclusively a dead-pull hitter -- primarily hitting balls to the same side of the field that he bats from -- which makes it extremely difficult to do any damage to balls thrown on the opposite side of the plate. When Gus warns Anderson he's not major-league ready because of this, Anderson scoffs at the notion, but is soon humbled by major league pitching exploiting this weakness from the jump. Once demoted back to the minors, a humbled Anderson tells Gus he's ready to be coached up and is soon hitting the ball to all fields with authority as a complete hitter.

--> '''[[DeadpanSnarker Harry Doyle]]:''' Of course he could be pointing at the center fielder.

* Dorn retires and b the team, but has to sell it back to the RichBitch after financial troubles force him to trade Parkman.

** 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 Website/IMDb Goofs page.

* SpeakOfTheDevil: When Lou is fed up with the "nickel-and-dime" equipment and resources in the clubhouse, he says aloud that he's "gonna get that bitch on the phone"; the camera pan reveals Rachel Phelps already down there, firing back, "You wanted to speak with the bitch?"

* 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 sleeves 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 [[Film/WallStreet feel like a banker]]."

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The Indians GM, Charlie, who is aghast at Phelps's plan and lets Lou in on the plot.

-->"I say fuck you, Jobu. I do it myself".

** Pretty much every line of Harry Doyle's broadcasts.

** In the first film, after Vaughn strikes out Haywood to escape a bases-loaded jam in the ninth, Doyle asks Monty, "Isn't this great?!", to which Monty simply reaches for Doyle's alcohol.

** He should be solid. It's mentioned by Phelps that he'd been coach of the Toledo Mud Hens for ''thirty years''! For comparison, as of this writing (June 2020), not a single MLB manager has been been with the same team for even 10 years (the longest being that of Bob Melvin, with the Oakland Athletics since June 2011) and only three have been MLB managers longer than thirty years, whether with one team or not (Connie Mack with the Pittsburgh Pirates for three seasons and the then-Philadelphia Athletics for ''50 seasons'' [he also owned the A's]; John [=McGraw=] for 34 seasons, 31 of them with the then-New York Giants; and Tony La Russa, with the Chicago White Sox, Oakland A's, and St. Louis Cardinals for a total of 33 seasons). The only reason he hadn't managed in the big leagues before was because he didn't want to have to deal with a bunch of overpaid prima donnas and overbearing owners.

* LosingTheTeamSpirit: The second movie opens like this, with members of the team either getting a swelled head from their success (Hayes, Vaughn), losing their competitive fire (Cerrano), realizing their age is catching up with them (Taylor) or retiring (Dorn)

** He should be solid. It's mentioned by Phelps that he'd been coach of the Toledo Mud Hens for ''thirty years''! For comparison, as of this writing (August 2018), only two MLB managers have been been with the same team for more than ten years (Mike Scioscia, with the Los Angeles Angels since 2000 and retiring after the 2018 season; and Bruce Bochy, with the San Francisco Giants since 2007) and only three have been MLB managers longer than thirty years, whether with one team or not (Connie Mack with the Pittsburgh Pirates for three seasons and the then-Philadelphia Athletics for ''50 seasons'' [he also owned the A's]; John [=McGraw=] for 34 seasons, 31 of them with the then-New York Giants; and Tony La Russa, with the Chicago White Sox, Oakland A's, and St. Louis Cardinals for a total of 33 seasons). The only reason he hadn't managed in the big leagues before was because he didn't want to have to deal with a bunch of overpaid prima donnas and overbearing owners.

* FireForgedFriends: After butting heads over religious differences Harris and Cerrano celebrate together at the end of the first, as do Dorn and Vaughn; [[spoiler:Dorn slugs him for sleeping with his wife(which even Vaughn knows he had coming to him), but picks him up and hugs him again.]]

* LameExcuse: Jake reasons cheating on Lynn with a flight attendant because the latter had "bet me fifty bucks she had a better body than yours and I had to defend your honor!"

* FireForgedFriends: Harris and Cerrano celebrate together at the end of the first, as do Dorn and Vaughn; [[spoiler:Dorn slugs him for sleeping with his wife, but picks him up and hugs him again.]]

* 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.

* Eddie Harris (Creator/ChelcieRoss), a somewhat preachy veteran pitcher with a worn-out arm who has resorted to loading baseballs with Vaseline and, occasionally, his own snot.
* Lou Brown (Creator/JamesGammon), a tire salesman (and career minor league manager) who's tapped to be the manager who presides over the madhouse.

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 (Creator/AlisonDoody), and philanthropist Nikki Reese (Creator/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 Wrestling/JesseVentura 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]]).

* Roger Dorn (Corbin Bernsen), a third baseman who is the epitome of the prima donna, more concerned with his endorsements and contract stipulations than his field play.

* Eddie Harris (Chelcie Ross), a somewhat preachy veteran pitcher with a worn-out arm who has resorted to loading baseballs with Vaseline and, occasionally, his own snot.
* Lou Brown (James Gammon), a tire salesman (and career minor league manager) who's tapped to be the manager who presides over the madhouse.

* StrictlyFormula: The movie could not be more clichéd (misfit team pulls together to win, with players like the catcher with bad knees, the slugger who can't connect, a runner who can't get on base, a pitcher with no control, etc.). It gets away with this by doing the old (ancient!) formula ''really well'', which sometimes counts for more than being original. TropesAreNotBad indeed.

** [[DontExplainTheJoke The words for "marbles" in Spanish can also be used for "balls" in any context]]. But the common slang word the testicles in Spanish is usually the word for eggs. Hence, the word Cerrano used for his realization.

* TalentDouble: Mostly averted. Virtually all the baseball scenes in the first film were done by the cast themselves; for instance, that really is Snipes making the sensational home-run-robbing catch during the finale. Anything they couldn't do well, the crew just filmed around it (with Snipes, he couldn't throw well nor run fast, so Hayes isn't seen throwing a ball and is why his running is usually in slow motion). The baseball sequences were actually shot with the actors playing ball trying to match the outcome needed to depict on film. The actors were enthusiastic about doing it, since they had to train and practice like real players, as well as living out playing major league ball in front of 25,000 people. The notable exception is Tom Berenger; former Dodger Steve Yeager (who also plays the Indians third-base coach Temple) does most of Jake Taylor's catching action.