Editor’s Note: In the spirit of counting down to the start of the Major League Baseball season over the next two weeks we here at Triple B will present our completely subjective ranking of the Top 10 Baseball Movies. Today we look at number 8 on the list.

Kevin Costner has made three baseball movies in his career. By the time the third leg of the Costner baseball triangle rolled around though it was clear that he did not have much left in the tank.

Still, it is hard to not count the complete Costner trilogy in a listing of baseball movies so coming in at number 8 on the Triple B Top 10 Baseball Movies list is For Love of the Game which allows Costner to move from behind the plate to the mound as a nearing the end of his career pitcher.

The movie focuses on Costner as a 40 year-old pitcher for the Detroit Tigers. Throughout the course of pitching what could be the final game of his career Costner flashes back to various points of his career both on and off the field and thinks about the events that made him the person that he became.

The movie is helped by the presence of Vin Scully calling the on-field action as only Vin Scully can.

Like the number 9 movie on our countdown, Fever Pitch, this movie probably could also fall into the romantic category but as Fred Savage’s character in The Princess Bride comes to learn you likely won’t mind the “mushy stuff” as the movie draws to its conclusion.

The baseball action is strong for the most part and the flashbacks do not seem to water down the present day action.

Again, it is not Kevin Costner’s strongest baseball movie but it does deserve a place on the shelf next to the other two sides of the Costner baseball triangle. And of course like I said there is Vin Scully to listen to so one really can’t go wrong there.

Copyright 2014 R. Anderson