I’ve been a baseball fan since I was about eight years old.  Some of the greatest memories I have were from the years before my team, the New York Mets, were really successful.  There was something more accessible about a team that was in the basement, not to mention I could always get good seats at a reasonable price.  As the years have gone on, Major League Baseball has become an arena dominated by the haves where I find I can afford less and less to take my family to one game a year, never mind more.

Since moving to New Hampshire, I’ve embraced Minor League Baseball.  This captures the feeling of being at the games that I remember from my youth.  The players are accessible, the games are fun, and the price is quite reasonable for a family.  It doesn’t even matter what teams I’m watching; going to games are fun again.

Bottom of the Ninth is a documentary about the New Jersey Somerset Patriots minor league baseball team. These are not the players we see in the headlines. In fact, most of them will probably never make it to the Major Leagues.  Some of them have already been there and have been sent down.  During the season, the average salary they collect is $1750 per month.  That’s a far cry from the contracts that dominate the headlines.

Veteran major leaguer Sparky Lyle is the manager.  John Montefusco is the pitching coach.  Montefusco’s back story is interesting as I didn’t remember all that happened with him getting arrested (he was found not guilty).  Both of these names were familiar to me.  Other than that, most of the names I didn’t know.  John Briscoe was one I’d heard but couldn’t recall seeing him play.  Many of these players are past a time when they have any more hope for a major league career; they just want to continue playing.

The documentary is short, just 50 minutes, but really packs a punch.  The team won both halves of their season, so automatically went to the playoffs for their league.  The focus is on those playoff games, with interviews with the players and coaches interspersed between the action.

Listening to both the players and the managers talk, one thing that is apparent is their love for the game.  They just want to play. While many of the players have aspirations of getting to the major leagues, most just want to play the game.  Some work two jobs in the off-season just to be able to play the game for the season.  Many are called to spring training with major league teams, then end up returning to the minor league team for the season anyway.  There’s something different in the camaraderie and atmosphere of a minor league team versus a major league team.  This DVD captures it well.

There are two versions of the documentary on this DVD; the original version and the modified version.  The only difference I noticed was that the modified version seemed to have the cursing bleeped out of it.  Baseball players curse. A lot.

Bottom of the Ninth is a great baseball documentary that captures the love these players (and coaches) have for the game of baseball.  They aren’t getting the headlines or the huge salaries, but their spirit is more to be admired than those that often do.  I highly recommend it.

And support your local minor league baseball teams.