Useless Movie Trivia For
Major League
Memorable Movie Quotes
Willie Mays Hayes: Willie Mays Hayes. I hit like Mays, and I run like Hayes.
Lou Brown: [Lou's talk to the team before the opening day game] All right people, we got 10 minutes 'till game time, let's all gather 'round. I'm not much for giving inspirational addresses, but I'd just like to point out that every newspaper in the country has picked us to finish last. The local press seems to think that we'd save everyone the time and trouble if we just went out and shot ourselves. Me, I'm for wasting sportswriters' time. So I figured we ought to hang around for a while and see if we can give 'em all a nice big shitburger to eat!
[entire team laughs]
Harry Doyle: [as Haywood hits a high-fly ball] Haywood swings and crushes this one towrd South America. Tomlinson is gonna need a Visa to catch this one, it is out of here, and there is nothing left but a vapor trail.
Trivia
The home game scenes were filmed at Milwaukee's County Stadium, which has since been torn down, where Bob Uecker, who portrays announcer Harry Doyle, called games for the Brewers and played for the old Milwaukee Braves. The exterior stadium shots use Cleveland's Municipal Stadium, which has since been torn down.
Many of the baseball players in the scenes filmed at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson, Arizona were members of the University of Arizona baseball team.
In the commercial for the movie when it was in the theaters, there was a scene in which Ricky Vaughn, Jake Taylor, and Willy Hays are in the restaurant, and they are discussing a homerun Ricky gave up to a batter. Jake says to Ricky, "That ball wouldn't have gone out of a lot of parks." Ricky says, "Name one." Jakes pauses and says, "Yellowstone." This scene was omitted from the theatrical release, but was written into the script of Major League II.
The opponent slugger known as Yankees home run threat Haywood was played by former pitcher of the Milwaukee Brewers, Peter Vuckovich. Peter Vuckovich never hit a single home run in his entire 11 year major league career. In fact, during 8 of those 11 years he never made a single plate appearance, since he was pitching in the American League - which uses a designated hitter to bat for the pitcher.
'Charlie Sheen' was a high school pitcher who was offered a baseball scholarship to the University of Kansas. In the movie he threw a 101mph fastball, but in reality Sheen could throw in the high 80s. This made it easier to simulate the fastball on film.
The restaurant where Lynn Wells (Rene Russo) is spotted on a date is in Milwaukee. It was at the time a gourmet restaurant, stood empty for a time and then was a Russian Restaurant and dance club. It again sat empty for a period and is currently (2005) a Baptist Church.
A scene featuring the wedding of Jake Taylor and Lynn Wells was shot and to occur after the Indians victory over the Yankees in the end but it was deleted because the producers felt that the wedding scene would put the focus of the movie on Jake and Lynn and not the team.
In the seasonal opener game, a sign on the outfield wall displaying the Milwaukee Brewers classic ball and mitt logo can be clearly seen. Bernie Brewer's house and beer mug was dismantled for the shooting of the movie, as to not give the identity of the interior shots of the stadium.
In the scene where Jake invades Lynn's party, one of the guests asks how much Jake makes in the Majors. He replies, "I make the league minimum." At the time(1989) the MLB salary minimum was $62,500. Average household income in 1990 is roughly $30,000. So he was making a very respectable double the average household income.
Shots of the Scoreboard in the movie show a logo for WTMJ, the NBC Affiliate for Milwaukee.
Charlie Sheen admitted to Sports Illustrated that he took steroids to prepare for his role. He believed the steroids he took caused him to increase his fastball to 85 MPH.
Goofs
At the opening game there is nobody in the stadium. A clock in the scoreboard reveals that it is 10:40am, too early for Major League Baseball games.
In the top of the 9th during the one game playoff against the Yankees, the stadium clock reads 10:20 PM as Vaughn is coming in from the bullpen. In the bottom of the 9th right as the Duke comes in from the bullpen, the stadium clock still reads 10:20 PM.
When Pedro Cerrano gets mad at Harris in the locker room he shouts "ˇChíngate Cabrón!" Cerrano is supposed to be Cuban, but that expression is Mexican Spanish, rarely heard in Cuba.
In the movie, Lynn's last name is Westland. In the credits, her last name is Wells.
In the final game against the Yanks, the # 37 player is hitting, Jake Taylor then throws to 1st base to pick off the #37 player. The #37 player appears later in the game, this time being referred to by a different name by Harry Doyle.
When Dorn (#24) gets his hit in the 7th inning of the playoff game, the shot of the base runner rounding first base shows his number as #8. When his face is shown again, his number is back to #24.
There are members of the New York Yankees wearing numbers 32 and 37. Both of these numbers have long been retired. 32 had been worn by Elston Howard and 37 had been worn by Casey Stengel.
During spring training, after the game against the Cubs, when players are looking to see if they got cut, Cerrano takes the snake and rubs the face of it on the paint on the locker. There is already a circle painted on the locker, and Cerrano makes a cross inside the circle with the snake. When the camera changes views, there is no cross on his locker.
After the Indians start winning and have a record that is roughly 60-61, a series of newspaper articles sequentially appears with news of the Indians' latest success. The dates on the newspapers are inconsistent. The first one is some time in May (you can't have played 121 games by May!). Then as the season progresses and the Indians move toward first place, the newspaper dates move backwards into April, again an impossibility.
During the pre-game prayer the smoke from Pedro's altar sets off the locker room sprinklers. That type of sprinkler is activated by heat, not smoke, so they would not have gone off.
In the final "bunt and steal" scene, after the signs have been given by Lou Brown and the base coach, Taylor is knocked down by an up and in fastball by the Duke. Hayes should have been running on the pitch as he would have assumed Taylor was bunting based on the signs. There's no way the signal would have included a "run on the 2nd pitch" instruction as Taylor already had one strike on him. Hayes steals on the next pitch and scores on Taylor's bunt single.
The one game playoff is played in the first week of October in Cleveland. Yet the people are dressed in shorts and t-shirts which would not be indicative of the weather in Cleveland at that time of the year. Additionally, Municipal Stadium sat right on the banks of Lake Erie, which made it feel 10-20 degrees colder then it actually was. It would probably feel in the 40's to early 50's at best. It would far too cold for the summer attire worn by the fans.
When the team is traveling on the team bus, the movie cuts twice to an outside shot of the moving bus. It is clear that the bus is empty.
As Cerrano hits his game tying home run in the playoff game against the Yankees, he is seen running the bases with the bat in his hand, which (then and now) is an eject-able offense in Major League Baseball.
During the National TV game against the Athletics, Taylor was talking to Rexman (who is at bat), the catcher talking to the batter is (then and now) an eject-able offense in Major League Baseball.
Box Office Info USA
Budget: $11,000,000<>Br>
Opening Weekend: $8,836,265
Gross: $49,797,148
Filming Locations
Chicago, Illinois, USA
General Mitchell International Airport, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Hi Corbett Field - 3400 E. Camino Campestre, Tucson, Arizona, USA
Milwaukee County Stadium - 201 South 46th Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA (Cleveland stadium interiors)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Municipal Stadium - 1085 W. Third Street, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA (library scene)
Tucson, Arizona, USA(Spring Training)
Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, USA
Yankee Stadium - E. 161st Street & River Avenue, Bronx, New York City, New York, USA