MAJOR LEAGUE: BACK TO THE MINORS (1998) ***

I put off seeing Major League:  Back to the Minors for… oh… twenty years, mostly under the assumption that it would suck without the presence of both Charlie Sheen and Tom Berenger.  I mean, how are you going to make a Major League movie with only Corbin Bernsen, Dennis Haysbert, and the C squad of players from Major League 2?  The addition of primarily TV talent in major roles such as Scott Bakula and Ted McGinley didn’t help to combat the feeling that this was going to be nothing but a DTV sequel that somehow got released theatrically by mistake.

Then not too long ago while perusing IMDB, I saw that Walton Goggins, everyone’s favorite bad guy from Justified had an early role in it as a brash young ballplayer and it sparked my interest.  I don’t know if it was the twenty years of low expectations or what, but it only took about twenty minutes for me to get into the groove of Back to the Minors.  Sure, it doesn’t quite measure up to its predecessors, but it’s a solid sequel that showed the franchise wasn’t quite dead.

Bakula plays Gus, a washed-up pitcher who resorts to using frozen baseballs to get batters out.  Former Indian Roger Dorn (Bernsen) is now the owner of the Twins and signs him up to mentor a hotheaded ballplayer (Goggins) on their minor league squad.  The big leagues Twins manager (McGinley) constantly makes fun of Gus, which leads to a drunken bet as to whose team is the best.

This builds up to a minor league vs. big league playoff game, which is unique.  It’s hard to say how believable it would be (and if it did happen, it would probably occur during the pre-season and not when the teams are still in contention), but it does give this entry a different flavor than the other films in the series.  It’s here where it sort of becomes an underdog movie like Rocky (there’s even a big rematch) than your standard baseball flick, which is refreshing.

The performances really sell it.  I don’t know why I ever doubted Bakula.  He’s always been a solid performer who deserved to be a bigger star.  He’s immensely likeable as the down and out manager and he and Bernsen have a few funny scenes together.  It’s fun catching up with the various players from the other movies (not to mention Bob Uecker); even if some of their gimmicks are past their expiration date.  The new additions to the cast are fun though, and Goggins fares well as the hotheaded slugger in desperate need of guidance.  I also enjoyed seeing Friday the 13^th Part 8:  Jason Takes Manhattan’s Jensen Daggett as Bakula’s love interest.  

It’s Peter Mackenzie as “Doc” the pitcher with the slowest fastball on record who gets the best line of the movie when he goes to a greasy burger stand and tries to order a salad.  When he learns they only have three salad dressings, he tells the waiter, “You know, just bring me a gun so I can shoot myself.”