Annette Bening reportedly almost played Jane; the lost casting opportunity is regretted.
The casting what-ifs category returns to Annette Bening as the preferred alternative.
The late discussion again favors Bening and jokingly suggests almost any actress from 1999 could improve the role.

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 00:14:57Read transcript

Roger Ebert gave the film one and a half stars and strongly criticized the romance.
The quoted review reverses who asks and answers the disfigurement question, a mistake explicitly corrected in the discussion.

Producer review

Likes it; baseball appeal; Preston reservation

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 00:15:13Read transcript

The producer enjoyed the film, especially compared with recently watching Never Been Kissed.
After the discussion, the producer still likes it because baseball films appeal to him, while acknowledging the Preston problem.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Deleted shower scene; Scully casting; Yankee Stadium; Michael Shaara nod

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:02:13Read transcript

Conflicting explanations for the reportedly deleted nude shower scene include maintaining PG-13 and poor test reactions; the audience-giggling account is challenged and Costner's reported anger is discussed.
A claim that Costner requested Scully is mentioned with uncertainty; the thin research material and prevalence of minor real-baseball casting anecdotes draw skepticism.
The story that Costner persuaded Steinbrenner to allow Yankee Stadium filming despite a Yankees loss is considered entertaining, against the team's real dominance.
Chapel reading The Killer Angels is identified as a nod to Michael Shaara, also the author of the source novel.

Picking Nits

Statistics; trade veto; manager; uniforms; baserunning; ending; daughter; scar; Gus; crowd; food; romance; father

In the discussion (15)

Approx. transcript time · 01:09:11Read transcript

Chapel's season line—30 starts,211 innings,8–11 record,3.55 ERA,98 walks and 111 strikeouts—is challenged for incompatible-seeming workload and run-prevention implications.
The manager’s urgency despite a 64–97 record is a nitpick.
Unusually high Yankees uniform numbers are a nitpick.
Reilly's awkward baserunning is criticized, with a wide shot using a double proposed.
Chapel's service is corrected to eighteen completed years entering his nineteenth season; ten-and-five trade-veto rights undermine the threatened Giants trade plot.
The preferred alternative ending leaves Chapel crying alone in his hotel, possibly without the perfect game; Jane finding someone else abroad is proposed jokingly.
Jane joking about Heather's name during an urgent runaway call is considered inconsistent with her fear; calling an estranged partner rather than a contact in Boston, where the father lives, is also challenged.
The tiny hand scar is considered incompatible with the severe saw injury and emergency transfer; a more visibly damaged hand is proposed, with doubt about whether he could then pitch again.
Gus wearing the Tigers cap in a New York hotel and his exaggerated drunken portrayal are criticized.
Leaving a glass of water in Gus’s hand rather than a bottle nearby is questioned, as is his greater drunkenness than Chapel.
The aerial view's empty seats are challenged for a potential pennant-clinching game, whose stakes also receive too little broadcast emphasis.
Chapel eating bread and milk in a glass is questioned as an unfamiliar habit.
Jane foregoing goodbye sex is questioned; the claim that she is presented as nonsexual is countered with their first-night encounter and other sexual references.
Chapel describing his supposedly important father merely as very tall is criticized as weak dialogue.
The saw accident prompts a joking distraction theory and a serious objection that a professional pitcher should avoid risking his hands.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Pitch count; career totals; sexual partners

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:19:30Read transcript

Chapel's pitch count is an unanswered question; an estimate of 120–122 is offered from the strikeouts, batters and long counts.
His career totals remain uncertain, with 300 wins inferred as necessary for the film's Hall of Fame framing rather than explicitly supplied.
The owner's complaint about modern baseball provokes disagreement about progress, localized fandom and MVP criteria; his paternal relationship with Chapel prompts a Succession joke.
The number of Chapel's sexual partners is an unanswered question, with thousands proposed from his long traveling career and a counterpoint that repeat arrangements could reduce the total.