True Love (of Baseball) Triumphs All

               

  “The Battered Bastards of Baseball” showcases a story that many people in the world never knew existed, including many baseball buffs. The documentary reflects on a group of ball players, located in Portland, Oregon, coached by famous actor Bing Russell, who were counted out, laughed at, and given no chance to prosper. Starting their organization from the ground-up, they were the only Independently owned baseball club in all of America, placed in the Pacific Coast League (PCL), which at the time was categorized under Class A of affiliated Minor League Baseball. “The Battered Bastards of Baseball” tells the amazing story of a true underdog fight of the Portland Mavericks against Major League Baseball while maintaining to hit the critical aspects of Ethos, Pathos, Logos, as well as CAAP (Context, Audience, Purpose, and Point of View).

                The documentary opens with building the background for the audience with a strong sense of ethos. The audience is immediately introduced to a young Bing Russell who would sit outside of New York Yankee baseball practice in his hometown of St. Petersburg. It was said that no one in his family had a taste for baseball, no one except for him. Day after day he would sit outside of practice and wait for someone to show their kindness and bless him with a ball. When he finally received a baseball, it was stolen from him by a group of three boys. This was the first time in the documentary that there was a sense of Russell not taking anyone’s bullying tactics to get what they want. He punched a boy in the mouth, got his ball back, and ran to his father who happened to be conversing with famous Yankee Lefty Gomez. Gomez enjoyed Russell so much that Russell was allowed around the Yankees from sitting in the dugout with the team to riding the team bus. Lou Gehrig even gave the bat he used to hit his last homerun of his career to Russell. This love of baseball only grew stronger throughout his life as he went on to play Independent baseball for several years before he was hit in the head and went on to pursue a job in Hollywood. By showing Russell’s love for baseball at an early age, the audience is convinced through ethos that this truly was a man who was qualified to own a baseball team.

                The call to emotion, also known as Pathos, was also apparent in this documentary. When the Portland Mavericks were established in 1973, the recent Portland baseball teams had suffered a severe drop in attendance and there was not a real wanting for another team to be in Portland. When the Mavericks began their campaign, they hosted open tryouts for all people to try to join the team. Hundreds of people showed up from all over the country trying to rekindle their dwindling career in baseball for one last chance to live their dream of playing professional baseball. When the team begins to see success, the audience feels like the Mavericks are someone that they want to cheer for; not only cheer for the mavericks, but also despise all the other teams in their conference who counted them out. What initially seems like the classic David vs. Goliath plot begins to unfold and surprise the audience. The Mavericks win. Often. So much so that they are viewed as true threats to every other team in the league; other teams begin sending players down from AA to play against these mainly undrafted “rejects” that continue to beat teams who they should have no chance against. Throughout the Mavericks’ slaughter of other teams that lasted until 1977, the audience feels connected to the team and wants to see them succeed in all endeavors due to the strongly developed sense of Pathos.

                Logos was seen more towards the end of the documentary when the court case between Major League Baseball and Bing Russell took place. Major League Baseball wanted to give Russell what they considered to be ample amount for buying the team and restructuring it to once again become affiliated with the MLB. They offered $26,000 for the team (this was five-times the usual amount) but were met with opposition when the counter offer by Russell was $206,000. Russell hired Jack Faust, a local attorney, to help with the case. The duo began to win over the hearts of those hearing the case by presenting numbers of the record breaking attendance and money generated by this independently owned team and how they believed they were truly worth the $206,000. They won the case and the attendance was never the same in Portland; they were not able to even match half the attendance that the Mavericks generated. Although it did not play a huge role in the documentary, Logos was present in the documentary.

                When addressing CAPP, the producers of the documentary did an amazing job. The context was that there were no Independently owned baseball teams in the country at the time until the Mavericks and they proved that they could hold their own against Minor League baseball teams. There are now over 65 throughout the country. They reached their target audience: fans of baseball and those interested in the history of baseball who connected easily and could entertain those who have no interest in the sport of baseball with this work. The purpose of this film was to introduce something to people that many were not aware of and show how the love of the game of baseball will destroy someone playing the game for a check. The point of view of this story was told through people who were players for the Mavericks and influenced the pathos through personal testimonials.

                This documentary was successful in showcasing a fairly unheard of story and making the audience feel as if they were truly experiencing the Mavericks and their invasion of Minor League Baseball. This film receives 5/5 tickets.