What pre-war player appears in "The Natural"?

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Posted By: Chris Counts

I've watched "The Natural" more times than I can remember, but I just noticed for the first time this week ... from watching the ending credits ... that a pre-war major leaguer actually makes an appearance in the film. A hint: It's not Joe Charboneau, who also appeared in the movie, but played about four decades too late ...

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Posted By: Rawn Hill

Sibby Sisti

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Posted By: Chris Counts

Sibby plays the Pittsburgh Pirates' manager who pulls "Younglood" and brings in "Rhodes" to face Roy Hobbs in the bottom of the ninth in the NL playoff at the end of the movie ...

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

The ballpark scenes were filmed in Buffalo Bisons stadium. Sisti, a Buffalo (NY) native, was the Mgr. And, Billy Martin (from
his nearby upstate NY farm) was a consultant to this movie.

TED Z

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Ah yes..."Rhodes". The young Nebraska farmboy with the blazing fastball!!

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Posted By: Chris

Interesting - don't think I knew that.

A family friend of ours (who also umped a bunch of my HS games) was in the movie as an umpire. It's been years but he used to tell me how much fun he had during the filming of those scenes.

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Posted By: Marty Kohler

The stadium was called Civic Stadium till around 1960 when the name was changed to War Memorial stadium....Home of the International League Buffalo Bisons and the American Football League Buffalo Bills, who beat the Jets there the same year they won Super Bowl III. The Bills had five interceptions. Tom Janik ran one back 102 yards. Also it was Joe McCarthy who had a upstate farm near Buffalo. He passed in 1978.....I don`t believe Billy Martin had anything to do with the film but don`t know for sure. There is an historical plague in front of "Marsh" Joe`s farmhouse. "Marsh" stands for master. May have been the greatest Manager of his era.

GO YARD

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Posted By: Butch & Co.

Beat us to it by just a couple of minutes, Marty (by the way, you won't remember this, but one of the guys at this ID met you a few years back -- you're "op," he's "ea"). The Rockpile was an awful place for baseball. Sadly, we never took in a game at legendary Offermann Stadium...
Joe McCarthy's place was on Ellicott Creek Road in North Amherst.
Also, not to be pathetic trivia geeks or anything, but the Pittburgh pitchers in the movie were "Youngberry" and "Rhoades."

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

There is a photo of Billy Martin advising this film's Director in the Buffalo Stadium back in 1984
when The Natural was filmed.

TED Z

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Posted By: Marty Kohler

Ted ,,Thanks for that! I never heard his name used in relation to the film.....would love to see the picture........

GO YARD

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Posted By: Marty Kohler

Butch&co., I assume you`re local? e-mail me if you want..refresh my memory.......

GO YARD

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Posted By: Geno

From my favorite book:

"Goodnight, Sibby Sisti, wherever you are."

Anybody else remember that line?

Take Care,
Geno

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Posted By: Rob D.

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Posted By: Chris Counts

"Goodnight, Sibby Sisti, wherever you are."

The line actually appears in Sibby Sisti's Wikipedia entry ...

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

Hey guys, the pitching consultant for this movie was former Yankee pitcher, Frank "Spec" Shea.

TED Z

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Posted By: Marty Kohler

More "The Natural" trivia........... Phil Mankowski the guy that got hit in the balls lives in my town........ He was a platoon player for the Tigers in the late seventies........Great guy......

GO YARD

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Posted By: Chris Counts

Another interesting thing about "the Natural" was the attention its creators paid to historical details. Not only did they go to great lengths to dress opponents in the N.L. uniforms of 1939, but they also reprinted a variety of scorecards, ticket stubs and baseball cards, some of which appear in the movie. Most baseball movies take great liberties with such details ... just look at "The Pride of the Yankees," when a rookie Gehrig walks into the clubhouse, and you see the names of latter-day Yankees like Dickey and Lazzeri above their gear and jerseys ...

A couple years ago I bought a 1939 Reds scorecard off an eBay seller. He described it as an authentic vintage scorecard, but he also listed the names of the players in the lineup, including "Hobbs, #9, RF." I knew immediately that it wasn't from 1939, but I thought it was so cool I picked it up anyway ...

By the way, I see Roy Hobbs "cards" from the movie available from time to time. They are deadringers for 1940 Play Balls, except that the lettering is in blue and they use a color photo of Roy. There's a couple BINs on eBay right now for $7 a pop ...

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Posted By: Rob D.

Chris,

I'm somewhat fanatical about The Natural (wore No. 9 in my last minor-league season just because of Roy Hobbs). Most of the Hobbs cards you see on eBay are reprints (granted, of movie reprints). I've owned a few of the uncut sheets, but it's tough to find a single card that's legit.

One of my favorite pieces of memorabilia in my collection is a Life magazine prop that has Hobbs on the cover. (There's a scene in the movie in which you see the mags on the presses). I've also got a number of the programs with Hobbs pre-printed in the lineup and a life-size diecut of two elderly fans that was used to "pad" attendance in the crowd scenes.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

I'm a huge fan of "The Natural" also...it is definitely my favorite baseball movie. If you haven't seen the director's cut that was released last year then you need to get it. There are many scenes added in to the movie to make it a lot clearer.

Rob, what's on the inside of that Life magazine?

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Posted By: Bob Beyerle

Geno- The line appears in "The Great American Baseball Card, Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book", although I may have the title smeared a little.

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Posted By: Rob D.

Dan,

The one I have has an actual Life magazine from 1941 on the inside. How cool is that? The date on the "Hobbs" cover is Aug. 14, 1939. The magazine is too big for my scanner, but here's a best-I-can-do scan.

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

deleted

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Posted By: Duke42

War Memorial Stadium was originally constructed as a WPA project in 1937. It was originally named Roesch Memorial Stadium, though the name was changed to Grover Cleveland Stadium later in 1937 (honoring the former President and Buffalo public official) and then to Civic Stadium in 1938. The name was changed to War Memorial Stadium in 1960.[1] The stadium originally sat 35,000, but many expansions took place over the years, raising the capacity to over 46,500.

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Posted By: Darren

Rob,

Cool piece, any idea where I might be able to get one?

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Posted By: Duke42

What MLB pitcher was part of the Natural movie

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Posted By: Rob D.

Thanks, Darren.

I've not seen another Life magazine offered, but then again, I stopped looking after I added one to my collection. When I collected memorabilia from The Natural more aggressively than I do now, I thoughts the props were ranked this way in terms of scarcity (from easiest to toughest):

1. Game programs
2. Game tickets
3. Uncut sheets of Hobbs cards
4. Life magazine
5. Uniforms, hats, etc.

As I mentioned above, there are so many Hobbs cards that aren't legit, I'd be pretty wary of buying one. I'm not sure that the sheets were reprinted as often (or as well).

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Posted By: Todd C

I keep the Natural movie on my IPOD for regular viewing.


Great movie !!!