From Spring Training to Screen Test: Baseball Players Turned Actors

For well over a century, stars and supporting players on baseball diamonds have become stars and supporting players in the movies, on Broadway, in vaudeville and, eventually, on television and in concert halls. After all, ballplayers are celebrities. Whether on the field or the stage, they are in the business of entertaining the masses. Not surprisingly, many showbiz luminaries have become baseball enthusiasts. They have invested their time, money, and expertise to be part of the baseball world as team owners and fans.

From Spring Training to Screen Test: Baseball Players Turned Actors includes essays by 43 SABR members that connect baseball and show biz. Not every ballplayer who ever made an appearance on screen or stage is included; to do so would result in a mini-encyclopedia. The purpose here is to offer a representative selection of those who crossed the lines between professional sports and popular entertainment. Included are biographies of selected individuals from the famous (Gene Autry, Joe DiMaggio, Jim Thorpe, Bernie Williams...) to the forgotten (Al Gettel, Lou Stringer, Wally Hebert, Wally Hood...) There are other select topics, from baseball on television shows and in Coca-Cola commercials to Jim Bouton’s casting as “Jim Barton” in his Ball Four TV series and Don Drysdale playing “Don Drysdale” on The Donna Reed Show, Leave It To Beaver, and The Brady Bunch. Those who will relish the privileged peeks at the off-the-field life and times of Mike Donlin and Edward G. Robinson playing Hans Lobert on the big screen in Big Leaguer will surely savor From Spring Training to Screen Test: Baseball Players Turned Actors.

MAJOR LEAGUERS


BO BELINSKY, Gregory H. Wolf

JOHNNY BERARDINO, Alan Cohen

BOBBY BONILLA, Mark Souder

CHUCK CONNORS, Charlie Bevis

RON DARLING, Audrey Apfel

JOE DIMAGGIO, Lawrence Baldassaro

MIKE DONLIN, Rob Edelman and Michael Betzold

DON DRYSDALE, Joseph Wancho

MARK FIDRYCH, Richard J. Puerzer

PAT FLAHERTY, Bill Hickman

LEW FONSECA, John Gabcik

STEVE GARVEY, Maxwell Kates

AL GETTEL, Clayton Trutor

GREG GOOSSEN, Rob Edelman

WALLY HEBERT, Gregory H. Wolf

WALLY HOOD, Jay Hurd

RON HOUCK, Phil Williams

REGGIE JACKSON, Ted Leavengood

DEREK JETER, Alan Cohen

WALLY JOYNER, Paul Hofmann

FRANK KELLEHER, Adam Klinker

JOHN KRUK, Seamus Kearney

LEE LACY, Gregory H. Wolf

BILLY LOES, Gregory H. Wolf

CHRISTY MATHEWSON, Eddie Frierson

JOHN MCGRAW, Don Jensen

GEORGE METKOVICH, Bill Nowlin

DON NEWCOMBE, Russell A. Bergtold

ERNIE ORSATTI, Lawrence Baldassaro

ART PASSARELLA, Rob Edelman

JERRY PRIDDY, Warren Corbett

BEANS REARDON, Bob LeMoine

BABE RUTH, Allan Wood

BRET SABERHAGEN, Alan Cohen

ZIGGY SEARS (UMPIRE), Bruce Bumbalough

SAMMY SOSA, Eric Hanauer

MONTY STRATTON, Gary Sarnoff

LOU STRINGER, Bill Nowlin

TONY TARASCO, Will Osgood

JIM THORPE, Don Jensen

BOB UECKER, Eric Aron

PETE VUCKOVICH, Rory Costello

RUBE WADDELL, Dan O’Brien

LEON WAGNER, Jay Berman

EDGAR “BLUE” WASHINGTON, Mark V. Perkins

BERNIE WILLIAMS, Rob Edelman

TODD ZEILE, Jon Springer


FILMS, FANS, AND TELEVISION

GENE AUTRY, Warren Corbett

RON SHELTON: ON COBB, BULL DURHAM, AND BASEBALL-ON-SCREEN, Rob Edelman

THOMAS TULL: ON DARK KNIGHTS, HANGOVERS, AND BASEBALL, Rob Edelman