From Spring Training to Screen Test

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
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