The Tri-City Valleycats and Hudson Valley Community College hosted Community Movie Night, sponsored by Rensselaer County, tonight, the second consecutive year this event has taken place.
Tonight's feature was "Rookie of The Year", a 1993 baseball comedy about a Little Leaguer who, after a freak accident, gets a whirlwind tour of the big leagues.
Every kid dreams of playing for his favorite sports team. For 12 year old Henry (Thomas Ian Nicholas), that dream would be to play for his hometown Chicago Cubs. A freak accident in a pickup game leaves him with a broken arm, which, when it heals, turns him into a fireballing pitcher who breaks 100 mph on the radar gun.
For the Cubs owner (Eddie Bracken), it's a one in a million miracle. The general manager (Dan Hedaya, ex-The Tortellis), after seeing Henry's early success, decides to exploit the boy. So does Henry's prospective stepfather, who now doubles as Henry's manager-agent. But, Henry's success is initially at the expense of a veteran pitcher he idolized (Gary Busey), who eventually wins the heart of Henry's mother.
Here's the trailer:
Yes, that's John Candy, uncredited, doing the play-by-play. Daniel Stern (The Wonder Years, "Home Alone") directed, and also has a comedy relief supporting role.
While the Valleycats have promoted the event on their website, there hasn't been much press support, and it's been nearly 2 weeks since the season ended. Most of the families camped out in left field to watch the movie, some bringing blankets or lawn chairs. Same thing happened 14 months ago when they screened "The Sandlot", another 20th Century Fox movie from the same period.
"Rookie of The Year" gets a B.
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