Major League (movie)
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Major League is a 1989 movie starring Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen and Corbin Bernsen.
In this movie, players on the Cleveland Indians learn of their owner's plans to create a team so bad she can move it to Florida because of poor attendance. The owner is sort of a female George Steinbrenner, but unlike Steinbrenner, she makes little effort to improve her team. Indeed, she deliberately sets out to create the worst major-league team possible, hoping that the Indians' lack of success will translate to rock-bottom attendance, triggering a contract clause that would allow her to break her lease at Cleveland Stadium. The team is populated by a motley mix of has-beens, raw rookies, and seemingly fatally flawed talents.
Eventually, the Indians spoil their owner's plans by winning games and taking their division. The most memorable moment in the film is when Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn (Sheen), a relief pitcher who wears black horn-rimmed glasses, enters the game to the tune of a reworked version of the Troggs' Wild Thing, which the crowd sings along to.
This film apparently helped the real Cleveland Indians, too, although not as much as a change in ownership and a new ballpark (Jacobs Field). From 1995 to 1999, they won five division titles and two American League pennants. The Indians won another division title in 2001.
Despite the fact that the featured team was the Cleveland Indians, the major-league game action in the movie was shot at Milwaukee County Stadium.
The movie spawned two sequels: Major League II in 1994, and Major League: Back to the Minors in 1998. Neither received the worldwide critical acclaim that the first film garnered.
Major League was also notable for featuring early appearances of actors who would later go on to stardom; Wesley Snipes played speedster Willie Mays Hayes, while Dennis Haysbert played superstitious slugger Pedro Cerrano and Rene Russo appeared as Lynn Wells.