Rally Caps is a 2024 independent film already gathering accolades. / Courtesy of rallycapsthemovie.com
Baseball is a cornerstone of American culture—and, in turn, a popular plot device for classic films. As of a census in March 2024 conducted by Major League Baseball, 16.7 million Americans play baseball, offering massive viewership. Sports in general make for wide-reaching stories, but baseball takes a leading role in many memorable movies such as A League of Their Own, Field of Dreams, The Sandlot, and Moneyball.
But…where has the baseball movie gone? Each generation seems to have a staple film that speaks to the era they grew up in. As for a contemporary baseball film for current ball-playing generations—there isn’t one. Though The Sandlot is a fun watch for any young players, it doesn’t speak to the culture of baseball today. Benny the Jet Rodriguez and Smalls didn’t have the internet to organize little leagues the way we do today. The majority of kids today play baseball in highly organized settings with hired coaches, polished uniforms, and busy travel schedules. The days of grabbing a mitt, a few friends, and an open space to play are in the past.
Though children’s baseball has become much more methodical, there’s still room to tell contemporary stories. Rally Caps, a 2024 film, produced by Katherine Borda and written/directed by Lee Cipolla intends to do just that. The events are based on a book written by father-daughter duo Stephen J. Cutler and Jodi Mitchell Cutler—a true story.
The story follows a young boy named Jordan, called “Jordy” as he overcomes an injury from a Little League tryout. Jordy searches for his inspiration and courage to return to the ballfield while away at summer camp. Here, he befriends a deaf boy named Lucas who plays catcher. Together, the duo confronts the challenges facing them at their Little League championship game.
Jordy played by Carson Minniear and Lucas played by Colten Pride (left). / Courtesy of The American Cochlear Implant Alliance
Morgan Rojas from Cinemacy reviewed the film. Rojas compares Rally Caps to its predecessors, saying it is, “reminiscent of The Sandlot and Field of Dreams” and “incorporates a wonderful sense of nostalgia into this family-friendly story.”
As previously mentioned, there’s a lack of contemporary baseball stories being told in the cinema. Though those reminiscent films are still true to the heart of baseball—by telling stories of teamwork, courage, and perseverance—they lack connection to modern young ball players. With the heightened organization of baseball and other sports, kids are under more pressure to succeed than ever before. For many families, baseball becomes much more than a game. It’s an opportunity to track their kid’s stats and tally his numbers online, as well as to post photos from costly tournaments on an expensive team. This heightened pressure makes sports become a major point of anxiety for kids unlike ever before.
Mission Harbor Behavioral Health studies the positive and negative effects that sports have on mental health. Though we’re all instructed as kids about the benefits of group activity, the downsides are often left out. Mission Harbor describes that effect as follows: “Youth who begin participating in sports for camaraderie…may find that the joy of the game is lost when they’re under constant pressure to outperform every other team.”
In her review, Rojas cites this need for attention to mental health in sports. She writes, “As familiar as the film feels in its aesthetic and structure [to older baseball films], it also includes serious modern-day themes such as child anxiety and mental health.”
Back in 2022 before the film’s release, Bobby LePier from Film Threat made a similar observation: “There aren’t too many movies exploring mental health and anxieties in pre-teens, making it all the better that the screenplay takes its time and lets audiences get to know Jordy so well.”
The film will be shown this Labor Day weekend at the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center in Iowa during the Labor Day celebration. Rally Caps will be shown in tandem with Field of Dreams. Although the latter is an all-time baseball classic, audiences will have the chance to juxtapose both films. In doing so, hopefully, viewers will realize the need to modernize movies about baseball. The game changes as we do, however subtly, so filmmakers like Cipolla and Borda can bring that idea to the screen.
Rally Caps will be available for streaming on September 10 on video-on-demand programs, and I hope to be one of many to check it out.
Edited by Brooke Weinrich
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