The Making of Major League: A Juuuust a Bit Inside Look at the Classic Baseball Comedy

by Jonathan Knight, Charlie Sheen (Foreword by)

Overview

With a foreword by Charlie Sheen.

A behind-the-scenes look at one of the greatest baseball movies ever …

If you love watching Major League, you’ll be fascinated by this inside story. Based on interviews with all major cast members plus crew and producers, it tells how writer/director David S. Ward battled the Hollywood system to turn his own love of the underdog Cleveland Indians into a classic screwball comedy.

Learn how a tight-knit group of rising young stars (and a few wily veterans) had a blast pretending to play ball while creating several iconic characters. Filled with little-known facts and personal recollections about outtakes and inside jokes, batting practice and script changes, all-night location shoots, bar hopping and more, this is the ultimate guide to the film that reinvented the baseball movie and inspired a generation of belly laughs.

Includes rare photos, storyboard illustrations, script excerpts, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781938441646
Publisher:	Gray & Company, Publishers
Publication date:	05/29/2015
Pages:	255
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Jonathan Knight has written nine books about sports and is a regular sports commentator on radio and television in Northeast Ohio. He was called “one of the most articulate and devoted sportswriters in Ohio” by the Akron Beacon Journal. A member of both the Society for American Baseball Research and the Pro Football Researchers Association, he's a graduate of Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. Learn more at www.jknightbooks.com and follow him on Twitter at @jknightwriter.

Charlie Sheen starred in "Major League" as the pitcher Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn. He has also starred in dozens of major Hollywood films, including "Platoon,"Wall Street," and "Eight Men Out" and several successful television shows, including "Two and a Half Men" and "Anger Management."

Table of Contents

Foreword Preface and Acknowledgments Prologue Cracking the Show Fantasy Baseball Making Losers Lovable “Tootsie,” Vietnam, and Wild Thing My Kinda Team Breaking Training Milwaukee’s Best Photographs, Storyboards, and More Vampire Baseball Cut the Windup “Like Watching a Home Movie” Major League Strikes Back Making Hearts Sing Epilogue Team Roster Box Score for the Final Game of the Film Script Excerpt: Final Scene Sources

Editorial Reviews

Brings back the joy and fun of being an Indians fan.

The Plain Dealer - Joanna Connors

Jonathan Knight has done something I never thought possible: uncover things about "Major League" that I didn’t even know.

Writer/Director of "Major League" - David S. Ward

Jonathan Knight did a wonderful job with this thing . . . It really reads quickly. Knight weaves in interviews with the cast with stories from behind the scenes. We learn so much about what the actors and producers went through, not to mention many of the scenes that didn't make the cut.

CBS Sports.com - Matt Snyer

A treasure trove of trivia as well as a valentine to a movie that is remembered fondly by all involved.

Toledo City Paper - Jeff McGinnis

What a fantastic ride back in time. Making "Major League" was a highlight of both my personal life (I wanted to be a ballplayer) and my professional life. Jonathan’s book not only takes me back but fills in a few holes.

Corbin Bernsen

A fun, fast recounting of all the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes into making a movie, the stuff that no one ever tells you about outside the biz . . . Knight includes all the right details in the book, including a funny and apparently very sincere intro from the Wild Thing himself, Charlie Sheen . . . If you’re looking for a baseball attitude adjustment this mid-season, pick up a copy of Jonathan Knight’s excellent book and remind yourself why baseball and the movies were made for each other.

Scout.com - John Vourlis

Jonathan Knight’s exhaustive investigative research has brought it all back home; the pain, the heat, the heartbreak, and the humor of the whole "Major League" experience—more than I remember, or even knew . . . His snappy narrative was like watching the film itself . . . It’s a shutout, a triple play, a home run!

Tom Berenger

This is a thorough and complete recap of the cult film, and if you enjoyed the movie you will love this book and all the inside information Knight reveals. He answers many of the questions movie fans will have and even explains details that maybe only those on the movie production staff would know . . . I don't know if you would classify The Making of Major League as a "sports book" or a book about the entertainment industry, so I'll just say it's my favorite "sports entertainment" book of 2015.

Examiner.com - Limpert Rick