Mr. Deeds Goes to Yankee Stadium: Baseball Films in the Capra Tradition (review)

Reviewed by: Mr. Deeds Goes to Yankee Stadium: Baseball Films in the Capra Tradition Chris Lamb (bio) Wes D. Gehring. Mr. Deeds Goes to Yankee Stadium: Baseball Films in the Capra Tradition. Jefferson NC: McFarland, 2004. 152 pp. Cloth, $45.00. Film critics, cultural historians, columnists, and baseball fans have long used movies to demonstrate the special grasp that the national pastime has on the American consciousness. No other sport serves as either the subject or the backdrop for so many movies. Why baseball? What, if anything, do these movies reveal about American society? What, if anything, do these movies have in common? In Mr. Deeds Goes to Yankee Stadium: Baseball Films in the Capra Tradition, Wes D. Gehring elevates the discussion by identifying qualities in baseball films that explain their popularity. Gehring structures his argument by examining [End Page 194] a number of baseball movies as they relate to the films of director Frank Capra, whom Gehring describes as "a pivotal architect of the feel good movie now known as populism, which cherishes the people, families, second chances, and traditional American icons like small town pastoral life and baseball." According to Gehring, Capra introduced his sense of populism in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town in 1936. Capra's populism could be defined by several qualities that were also present in his other movies, such as Meet John Doe (1941), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and It's A Wonderful Life (1946). Gehring identifies those same qualities in a number of baseball films, beginning with Pride of the Yankees (1942), the tearful story of New York first baseman Lou Gehrig, which one critic described as "Mr. Deeds Goes to Yankee Stadium." Gehring then weaves his populist argument in the discussion of seven other films: The Stratton Story (1949), Angels in the Outfield (1951), The Natural (1984), Bull Durham (1988), Field of Dreams (1989), Frequency (1999), and The Rookie (2002). Mr. Deeds Goes to Yankee Stadium succeeds not just because Gehring knows so much about baseball but because he knows so much about films, and Capra films in particular. A professor of film at Ball State University, he is the author of several books on film, including Populism and the Capra Legacy. He uses his background well in adapting Capra to baseball. The book is well documented and well written. In addition, Gehring wisely selected the films in his book, avoiding the trap of overreaching that would have strained his credibility. The book makes a marked contribution to the literature on the subject of baseball and film. Gehring, however, takes too long to get into the book. Mr. Deeds begins with two forewords, an acknowledgements section, a preface, and an introduction. This rain delay creates not suspense, or even interest, but impatience on the reader's part. The book is organized into chapter titles that are unfortunately called "innings." Such a thoughtful book should have been above such banality. In addition, his first inning is an introduction and the next eight are movies; therefore, the chapter titles did not fit the book's symmetry. Mr. Deeds has only 152 pages, but the discussion of the movies, which is both the substance and strength of the book, covers fewer than 100 pages. He should have warmed up the reader less and engaged him or her more. Gehring begins with Mr. Deeds Goes to Washington, which is not generally considered a baseball movie. According to Gehring, however, just because it contains no baseball footage doesn't mean it isn't a baseball movie. Gehring uses this classic Capra film to demonstrate how populism drives the story in so many baseball movies. He identifies how Capra's characters use baseball metaphors, how father figures are used as heroes, and how the national pastime [End Page 195] is associated with such basic populist values as honesty, decency, and morality. In addition, the movie demonstrates how pastoral life represents goodness, while the city is, according to Gehring, "man-made evil." The movie's central character must—with the help of others—overcome temptation if he is to ultimately succeed. Gehring's argument rests comfortably on this foundation. He identifies the different elements of populism that...

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