The Battered Bastards of Baseball (Netflix)

Directors: Chapman Way, MacLaine Way (2014)

Cast: Bing Russell, Kurt Russell, Joe Garagiola, Jim Bouton

This is a fantastic documentary about independent baseball in Portland in the late 1970’s. You get Kurt Russell and Jim Bouton. Ithas a little of everything. FUN.

Oganized baseball moved the AAA Portland beavers out of the city, former minor-league ballplayer and popular Hollywood character actor in Bing Russell had a radical idea: Bring a new brand of baseball to the Northwest in 1973. Independent, free-wheeling, and incredibly fan-friendly, the Portland Mavericks were born.

And were they ever Mavericks. They built their team from open tryouts, and no hair was too long, no beard too shaggy, and there were very few rules to speak of. The result was a team of 30 grizzled-looking brothers whom the city adopted and rewarded with attendance numbers that broke every record in minor-league baseball. They also beat the pants off a lot of clubs with the powerful backing of major-league teams, and that made Russell unpopular — and the Mavericks a target.

“Organized” baseball took Portland back after The 1977 season, forcing the Mavericks to disband, but in five years the guilt and legacy is perhaps the most entertaining and relatable team in the history of the game.

Opinion/Review: If you love baseball, you’ll end up watching this movie six or seven times. It’s that good, truly exposing both the ugly underbelly of the game and its inherent joy. Even if you don’t care for baseball, you will love this documentary. The characters border on cartoon, and everything about the story is so human I can’t help but feel it through the screen.

Fun Facts: Russell‘s son, Kurt, played for the Mavericks and was the club’s vice president for a time. … The film’s directors, Chapman and McLean Way, are grandsons of Bing Russell … Filmmaker Justin Lin Has acquired the rights to adapt the documentary into a feature length film.