From Spring Training to Screen Test: Baseball Players Turned Actors

For well over a century, stars and supporting players on baseball diamonds have become stars and supporting players in the movies, on Broadway, in vaudeville and, eventually, on television and in concert halls. After all, ballplayers are celebrities. Whether on the field or the stage, they are in the business of entertaining the masses. Not surprisingly, many showbiz luminaries have become baseball enthusiasts. They have invested their time, money, and expertise to be part of the baseball world as team owners and fans. From Spring Training to Screen Test: Baseball Players Turned Actors includes essays by 43 SABR members that connect baseball and show biz. Not every ballplayer who ever made an appearance on screen or stage is included; to do so would result in a mini-encyclopedia. The purpose here is to offer a representative selection of those who crossed the lines between professional sports and popular entertainment. Included are biographies of selected individuals from the famous (Gene Autry, Joe DiMaggio, Jim Thorpe, Bernie Williams...) to the forgotten (Al Gettel, Lou Stringer, Wally Hebert, Wally Hood...) There are other select topics, from baseball on television shows and in Coca-Cola commercials to Jim Bouton's casting as "Jim Barton" in his Ball Four TV series and Don Drysdale playing "Don Drysdale" on The Donna Reed Show, Leave It To Beaver, and The Brady Bunch. Those who will relish the privileged peeks at the off-the-field life and times of Mike Donlin and Edward G. Robinson playing Hans Lobert on the big screen in Big Leaguer will surely savor From Spring Training to Screen Test: Baseball Players Turned Actors. MAJOR LEAGUERS
BO BELINSKY, Gregory H. Wolf
JOHNNY BERARDINO, Alan Cohen
BOBBY BONILLA, Mark Souder
CHUCK CONNORS, Charlie Bevis
RON DARLING, Audrey Apfel
JOE DIMAGGIO, Lawrence Baldassaro
MIKE DONLIN, Rob Edelman and Michael Betzold
DON DRYSDALE, Joseph Wancho
MARK FIDRYCH, Richard J. Puerzer
PAT FLAHERTY, Bill Hickman
LEW FONSECA, John Gabcik
STEVE GARVEY, Maxwell Kates
AL GETTEL, Clayton Trutor
GREG GOOSSEN, Rob Edelman
WALLY HEBERT, Gregory H. Wolf
WALLY HOOD, Jay Hurd
RON HOUCK, Phil Williams
REGGIE JACKSON, Ted Leavengood
DEREK JETER, Alan Cohen
WALLY JOYNER, Paul Hofmann
FRANK KELLEHER, Adam Klinker
JOHN KRUK, Seamus Kearney
LEE LACY, Gregory H. Wolf
BILLY LOES, Gregory H. Wolf
CHRISTY MATHEWSON, Eddie Frierson
JOHN MCGRAW, Don Jensen
GEORGE METKOVICH, Bill Nowlin
DON NEWCOMBE, Russell A. Bergtold
ERNIE ORSATTI, Lawrence Baldassaro
ART PASSARELLA, Rob Edelman
JERRY PRIDDY, Warren Corbett
BEANS REARDON, Bob LeMoine
BABE RUTH, Allan Wood
BRET SABERHAGEN, Alan Cohen
ZIGGY SEARS (UMPIRE), Bruce Bumbalough
SAMMY SOSA, Eric Hanauer
MONTY STRATTON, Gary Sarnoff
LOU STRINGER, Bill Nowlin
TONY TARASCO, Will Osgood
JIM THORPE, Don Jensen
BOB UECKER, Eric Aron
PETE VUCKOVICH, Rory Costello
RUBE WADDELL, Dan O'Brien
LEON WAGNER, Jay Berman
EDGAR "BLUE" WASHINGTON, Mark V. Perkins
BERNIE WILLIAMS, Rob Edelman
TODD ZEILE, Jon Springer
FILMS, FANS, AND TELEVISION
GENE AUTRY, Warren Corbett
RON SHELTON: ON COBB, BULL DURHAM, AND BASEBALL-ON-SCREEN, Rob Edelman
THOMAS TULL: ON DARK KNIGHTS, HANGOVERS, AND BASEBALL, Rob Edelman