The final-game run is the preferred stretch, especially Pedro Cerrano’s home run through Rick Vaughn’s strikeout of Clu Haywood; the training-camp introductions, Jobu scenes, Wild Thing entrance, and the American Express commercial are alternatives.
Bob Uecker’s Harry Doyle broadcasts win. The alternatives are Jake Taylor’s bunt; the film’s slow motion; the Cleveland opening; credible baseball-player casting and Charlie Sheen’s physicality; the season-long structure and specialized roster; Lou Brown; baseball texture; Yankees villainy; the manager’s hunch; worst-to-first baseball magic; closer entrance music; and the profane R-rated tone.
Charlie Sheen’s later baggage is the named vote, with Jake Taylor’s stalking and Wesley Snipes’s running called honorable runners-up, before the hosts qualify the result as a nine-way tie for first. The almost entirely white setting, later Bob Uecker imitators, Snipes’s throwing and sequel distance, the Lynn-centered freeze-frame, the ‘off the reservation’ phrase, and Pedro Cerrano’s stereotyped characterization are also among the criticized elements.
Dyan Cannon was wanted for Rachel Phelps before the studio chose Margaret Whitton; Jeremy Piven filmed a bench-jockey role that was deleted.
Clu Haywood, played by Pete Vuckovich, wins. Rachel Phelps, Bob Uecker, and Uecker’s unnamed broadcast partner are also accepted as candidates.
The research covers rejected roles, alternate endings, Milwaukee production logistics, baseball-player casting, injuries and stunts, Wild Thing history, sequel tensions, cast friendships, and Margaret Whitton’s dispute with Ron Shelton.
Margaret Whitton and James Gammon receive clear Apex Mountain calls; Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, and Dennis Haysbert are debated against later or larger roles.
Chelcie Ross wins over James Gammon because the hosts know Gammon’s name but initially struggle to identify Ross by name.
Michael K. Williams wins the choice among Danny Trejo, Steve Buscemi, and Michael K. Williams.
Corbin Bernsen wins for Roger Dorn’s exaggerated effort while fielding routine ground balls.
The hosts question Jake Taylor’s supposed catching greatness, his healthy-enough-to-bunt knees, player finances and roommates, his abrupt lack of sexual interest, bullpen-car travel, Tom Berenger’s intended appeal, Roger Dorn missing a TV camera, Vaughn’s accessibility to Dorn’s wife, and lineup continuity in the final game.
