If you’re a real baseball fan, you’ve seen Major League. If you’re a real Indians fan, you own the DVD, quote it excessively, and own a pair of Rick Vaughn-esque glasses.
It’s an absolute classic full of whacky characters, great one-liners, and some of the best baseball action sequences Hollywood has ever staged. But one of the coolest things about it (and one of the reasons why it holds up so well more than 20 years later) is that life truly has imitated art.
It’s not just that Cubs closer Mitch Williams changed his number to 99 and gained the nickname “Wild Thing” midway through the 1989 season, or that the Indians had become one of the best teams in the game within five years of the film’s release.
Exaggerated and caricatured though they may be, the oddball protagonists in Major League are a lot like some of today’s players.
In this slideshow are 12 current and recent baseball players and personalities who match up well with characters in the movie. The names on this list aren’t all Indians, but some players from Cleveland won out over otherwise more deserving people from other franchises because of their team affiliations.
If you’ve never seen Major League, don’t read any further—not just because there are spoilers, but because you are missing out. Run out to Blockbuster or download it from iTunes or something—just watch it, immediately. Seriously. Now.