There Goes Roy Hobbs “The Natural” On Fathers Day.

Can’t recall the first time I watched The Natural? When I come across it on TV I can never pull myself away. I watch the DVD at lease once a year and with Fathers Day coming this weekend it feels like it’s time again. There is something about the golden age of baseball, the feeling of fathers and sons together in the stands. Roy Hobbs simple dream when he says to Iris Gaines “And then? And then when I walked down the street people would’ve looked and they would’ve said there goes Roy Hobbs, the best there ever was in this game”. I collected baseball cards as a kid. Sat in the stands of Yankees Stadium with my father eating a ”Reggie” candy bar as I witnessed my favorite player Reggie Jackson drill one deep into the right field upper decks. Maybe it’s that innocence seems to be missing in today’s sporting event? Kids grow up exceptionally faster, parents seem much more cynical and a majority of players discount team/city loyalty for the bigger paycheck. Roy Hobbs walked into the dugout with just “wonderboy” the bat he made with his dad. No agent, no entourage, no sponsorship deal. Just a man and the game. The game that keeps him feeling close to his father. The home run at the end is climactic theatrically but it’s the emotional climax that sets The Natural apart from all other sports movies for me. The final visual (which is not in this clip) we see Roy Hobbs has walked away from baseball and is now a father himself. Playing a game of catch with his son in their backyard in the country. No stadium, no baseball cards, no one saying “There goes Roy Hobbs… No. We see a dad, a son and the game.
FYI Ed Waitkus is the baseball player who inspired the movie.

Tagged as: Baseball, Reggie Jackson, Roy Hobbs, Yankees Stadium