Original subtitles

♪ What would you do if I sang out of tune? ♪

♪ Would you stand up and walk out on me? ♪

♪ Lend me your ears, and I'll sing you a song ♪

♪ I will try not to sing out of key, yeah ♪

♪ Oh, baby, I get by ♪ ♪ By with a little help from my friends ♪

♪ All I need is my buddies ♪

♪ High with a little help from my friends ♪

♪ I'm sayin' I'm gonna get higher ♪ -♪ Try with a little help from my friends ♪

- ♪ Whoa-oa-oa-oa, yeah ♪ - ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪

♪ Said I don't know if that's what I'm sure to do ♪

♪ Baby ♪

♪ By with a little help from my friends ♪

♪ Said I'm gonna make it with my friends ♪

♪ By with a little help from my friends ♪

♪ Whoa, I'm gonna keep on trying ♪

♪ By with a little help from my friends ♪

♪ I'm gonna keep on trying ♪

♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪

There's a dream that's as old as natural grass

and nickel hot dogs and being young.

Branca throws. There's a long drive.

It's gonna be, I believe...

the giants win the pennant!

The giants win the pennant!

It's a dream every kid shares...

the one big moment,

hero time.

Of course, when you're 5,

that dream doesn't seem out of reach.

Everyone plays the game about the same...

bad.

Still, for all your shortcomings,

you've got the one thing that matters most...

potential.

Then, as springtime rolls into fall

and little league gives way to summer jobs,

somehow... The dream gets left behind...

For most of us, anyway.

Hey, I might try out for the team this year.

Of course, there was the occasional glaring exception.

Paul, you're nuts.

You're gonna be up against 9th-graders.

Only the best guys make the team.

Come on. You love baseball.

Wouldn't you like to play on the team?

I mean, you hit almost as good as I do.

My mother hit better than Paul did.

This isn't little league.

Some of these guys can throw like 1,000 Miles an hour.

No duh!

Still, the great thing about my best friend

was he never gave in to reality.

Come on, Kev. Think about it.

The smell of the grass,

the crack of the bat in your hands...

[ "Take me out to the ballgame" plays ]

The breeze blowing in from the outfield...

The feeling you get when the ball

hits smack in the webbing!

The roar of the crowds, the smell of the hot dogs!

Kevin, this is baseball!

Anything is possible!

Aw, heck.

It wasn't up to me to smash Paul's dream.

Excuse me.

There were plenty of other guys to do that.

Thanks.

Anything can happen.

Well, I was his best friend,

and if he was determined to go through with this,

there was only one thing I could do...

Steerike two!

Watch him go down in flames.

Lomax, you holding back?

Coach Baker... the guy who made the decisions,

the guy who stood between you and the dream,

the guy...

You're throwing like a girl!

Who called you a girl.

Start following through! Keep the ball down!

It wasn't fair, really.

Those other guys had skills Paul didn't,

like hand-eye coordination.

Somebody had to give him a little support.

Hey, Paul.

Don't let him fool you with his curve ball.

That was his curve ball?

Keep working on your stretch!

And don't forget to follow through!

Open your stance up a little bit.

And don't crowd the plate.

And keep the bat up.

Keep your kit down!

Just try to get a piece of it.

Okay, so maybe we had separate agendas here.

But at least now Paul had a chance of...

Strike three!

Looking good while he struck out.

It's okay, Pfeiffer.

That's the way to stand in there.

Well, at least he couldn't say I hadn't warned him.

Anybody else?

Come on. Let's get another batter up here.

Don't worry about it.

I struck out.

Hey, kid!

What's your name?

Kevin Arnold.

Want to take an at-bat, Arnold?

No.

[ Chuckling ] No. No, thanks.

Why not?

If you can hit half as good as you coach,

we might be able to use you.

No. I really didn't come to try out, so...

It's up to you.

I guess it's a lot easier

staring at a fastball behind the fence, huh?

Well, I had a choice.

I could either stand here

and let this guy embarrass me in front of everybody

or...

I could do it myself.

After all, this wasn't my tryout.

I was just gonna stand up there and take three swings.

Come on, now.

Whoa!

Pick 'em up! Pick 'em up!

Pick 'em up!

[ Indistinct shouting ]

Or maybe just one.

Get the ball. Hurry!

I can't believe this happened.

[ Sighs ] Me either.

Man, first pitch and you nailed it.

What a lucky hit.

[ Sighs ] Sure.

- He almost got it by you. - I know.

You swung so late, you put it in the opposite field.

Well, it was understandable.

What did I expect from Paul...

congratulations?

A candygram?

Look, Paul, it was just a lucky hit, okay?

I mean, there's no way I'm going back.

And I wasn't.

Our long-standing friendship

meant more to me than...

Going back where?

Baseball tryouts.

Oh.

But wait a minute.

Was that an actual glimmer of interest in the old man's eye?

You tried out for baseball?

Hmm.

There's nothing quite like the feeling you get

when your father "hmms" at you with pride in his eyes.

Well...

No. He just made this one lucky hit.

It wasn't luck, Paul.

So much for long-standing friendships.

I nailed it on the first pitch.

Huh. So, you went out for the team, huh?

Not really. He just...

yeah, I did.

I thought I'd give it a shot.

So... Did you make the team?

Well, there are still some more tryouts,

but the coach told me to come back tomorrow.

No kidding?

Yep, when your dad looked at you like that,

you felt like you could do anything.

Strike one!

Well... Almost anything.

Come on, Arnold.

Nice, easy swing, just like you did yesterday.

Right.

Got it.

All right.

Nice, easy swing.

Just relax.

Sure, relax.

Nothing on the line here, right?

Except...

Come on, Kev!

Give it a rip!

My entire adolescent manhood.

Okay, the pressure was on.

But I was up to it.

Strike two!

Give it a little ride, Kev!

All I needed here was a little concentration.

All I had to do was make contact.

All I had to do was...

Strike three!

Whiff.

All right, Martin, you're up.

Come on.

Arnold, take over at second.

Okay, then.

I'd have to hit the field and try to save a little face.

[ Grunts ]

Or fall on it.

[ Whistle blows ]

All right, let's hit the showers.

Let's go! Let's go!

I'll have the list up when you get out.

And there you had it... time to face up to reality,

take my medicine like a loser.

Coach, uh...

You made a couple of good plays out there.

What?

Let's try to make a few more tomorrow, okay?

- You made the cut? - Uh-huh.

Uhhuh.

I'd made the first cut.

Never mind I had no idea why.

I didn't know they had tryouts for batboys.

Hey, knock it off.

Your brother did good out there today.

- Really? - Really?

Coach says he has potential.

Yeah, that must be it... "potential."

The magic word.

Well, congratulations, honey.

So, dad, you and coach Baker talked for a long time.

Anything besides "potential" come up?

So, what'd he say about me, dad?

Don't leave anything out now...

adjectives, superlatives.

Oh, yeah.

Kevin's coach is Ted Baker.

- No! - Mm-hmm.

You know the coach?

Yeah, we were in the corps together.

How interesting...

But back to the old superlatives.

How's his wife? What was her name?

Arlene.

You know, both his kids are in college already.

- No! - Mm-hmm.

Fascinating, but what did that have to do with me?

Ted invited me back for tomorrow.

Whoops.[ Bat cracks ]

Here's what it had to do with me.

Errors, bobbles...

Humiliation.

Not that I didn't have my moments.

It's just that my moments seemed to interfere...

[ Both laugh ]

With their moments.

Five errors.

Six.

Hey, there's always tomorrow, guys.

But I doubted it.

Sorry, kid.

I had to cut you.

Better luck next time.

Arnold, I'll see you tomorrow.

What was going on here?

It didn't add up.

Potential was one thing, but...

Too bad my dad's not so buddy-buddy with the coach.

"Buddy-buddy with the coach"?

Congratulations. Teddy said you made the cut.

"Teddy"?

I found these out here.

You can take them back tomorrow.

Okay.

Come on. Toss me a couple.

Dad...

Come on. See if you get one past your old man.

Part of me wanted to know the truth,

and part of me didn't.

Okay, now. Give me your best shot.

Teddy says your arm needs work.

Come on. No cream puffs!

I didn't know what to think...

About dad and coach Baker,

about making the cut,

about a childhood dream that just days before

had seemed to be in the palm of my hand.

Fire it in, now!

All I knew was... I was about to throw a baseball

harder than I had ever thrown one before in my life.

[ Grunts ]

And what had been in the palm of my hand

was now out of the ballpark.

[ Dog barking ]

The crack of the bat,

the smell of the grass,

the lingering suspicion that something was rotten

in the state of junior-high baseball.

As tryouts continued, I tried to put all those thoughts...

Hey, Arnold!

- Behind me! - Oh, come on, Arnold!

And concentrate on the task at hand.

[ Grunts ]

But it seemed like the more I concentrated, the worse I got.

Arnold, will you quit aiming for the moon?

I'm not aiming for the moon.

I was aiming for anything.

So, how'd it go at tryouts?

Six errors, two strikeouts.

Well, there's always next year.

I made the cut.

[ Cash register dings ]

Congratulations.

This was getting to be too much.

What I needed to do was just sit down with my Jell-O cubes,

my French fries...

And my girlfriend.

Hi!

Hi.

What's wrong?

Oh, it's nothing.

Kevin, if something's bothering you, maybe I can help.

Well, maybe I should tell her.

If anyone would understand, it would be Winnie.

Well... It's tryouts.

You see, I'm having this problem...

Uhhuh.

And I can't figure it out.

I don't know what to do.

And I'm really trying hard,

you know, 'cause it's important to me.

Do you understand anything at all I'm saying, Winnie?

I do.

Okay, this was what I needed...

a little dollop of feminine sensitivity.

Try choking up a little more.

And widen your stance.

That'll help you get the bat around quicker,

and that way your swing won't be so late

and you can meet the ball out right over the plate.

Great.

Everybody's an expert.

[ Whistle blows ]

Tryout day number 3.

Four strikeouts, five errors, and what's worse...

Congratulations, Arnold.

You made the cut.

Okay. This had gone far enough.

And now it was time to find out why...

Arnold.

Without mincing words.

What time are tryouts tomorrow?

Same time as every day.

Right.

Okay.

Enough chitchat.

Let's cut to the chase.

Why do I keep making the cuts?

I think I know what you're getting at, Arnold.

You've been making a lot of errors.

And you haven't been handling the bat the way you'd like.

And you're wondering why I keep you around.

I think you and I know the answer to that.

His name...

Oh, no.

Is Charlie hustle.

Huh?

You got a lot of desire, kid, a lot of heart.

That's one of the first things I look for in a player.

Really?

You bet.

You can keep your hotshots

who think somebody owes them a starting position.

Just give me one guy who loves the game,

one guy who plays his heart out,

one guy you can count on.

One guy.

Could that be me?

Maybe I'd been all wrong. Maybe I did have potential.

Maybe making the cuts

hadn't had anything at all to do with...

You know your dad saved my life in Korea?

Huh?

Never told you, huh?

[ Chuckles ] Doesn't surprise me.

Yeah.

Pulled me out of the line of fire once.

There's nothing I wouldn't do for that man.

[ Bombs whistling ]

[ Explosion ]

[ Indistinct shouting ]

You saved my life.

Eh, forget it.

No, I owe you, Arnold.

Anything. Just name it.

Well, you know, someday I may have a son.

If you're ever in a position to put him on a baseball team,

I'd really appreciate it.

Consider it done.

You know, in fact, it'd be nice

if he were a starter.

Well, you know, I can't promise anything.

Look out!

[ Explosion ]

[ Sighs ] Starter it is.

Yeah, and I'm sure he'd like to play somewhere in the infield.

Well, I don't know...

Look out! Look out!

[ Gunfire ]

How about shortstop?

Come on. Let's get the hell out of here!

It gave a whole new meaning to the concept of war,

knowing that millions of brave men had gone off to fight

and save lives just so their inept sons

could play junior-high-school baseball.

Hey, you know, I've been thinking...

this mitt of yours is getting kind of ratty.

How'd you like to go out and get a new one?

A new mitt?

Yeah. Why not?

[ Sighs ] I don't need a new mitt.

Hey, wait till you get a whiff

of that fresh, new rawhide on your hand.

What do you say?

Though moments like this from my father were rare,

it wasn't hard to see what he was feeling.

Unfortunately, I also had an idea of why.

There's no way I could break it in in time for tomorrow.

'Course not.

I just have a feeling you're gonna need it after tomorrow.

And there it was... the smoking gun,

the dead giveaway.

We'll go down to Kel's Sporting Goods.

They must have a ton in stock right now.

Come on. It'll be fun, Kev.

Let's go.

Look, I don't want a new mitt.

I can do fine with my own, okay?

Let him get his own mitt.

I was sick of playing someone else's game.

The only thing I wanted was to prove

that I didn't need any favors, that I deserved to be here.

I wanted to prove it to the guys trying out, to the coach,

but most of all, I wanted to prove it to myself.

All right, so, let's go!

Let's look alive out there!

This is it! There's no tomorrow!

Show me what you got out there!

All right, if I did have anything to show,

I was gonna show it now.

[ Indistinct shouting ]

Stee-rike one.

Nice shot!

Thanks.

You bust one?

Yeah.

All right, come and get a new one.

Let's go! Hustle!

Why bother?

I could play as bad as I wanted to.

I could strike out nine times in a row.

I could try out for band and still make this team.

Hey, Horton! Let's look alive out there!

And, Torchillo, you're playing too deep in center!

Baker's final cuts. I didn't even have to look.

It was humiliating. It was degrading.

I ought to cross my name off that list.

Come on, now. I want to see some hustle!

Except... I didn't have to.

Hey, you!

I'd been cut!

Katt, move over there and cover that line over there.

It was unbelievable.

It was... Great!

It meant my dad hadn't been pulling strings for me.

He'd just been pulling for me.

Let's look alive out there!

It meant I really did have potential.

Okay, now, batter up.

As I stepped back up to the plate,

all the cares, all the worries,

all the burdens I'd carried around for the past few days

just disappeared.

All right, come on, Arnold.

Give it a poke. Give it a ride.

Suddenly, the outside world fell away.

It was just me and baseball.

[ Indistinct shouting ]

Come on, Kevin. Give it a rip!

Let's go!

Come on, Kev. Give it a rip!

My moment had arrived.

You can do it.

And I knew what I had to do.

[ Cheers and applause ]

I'm not sure how I did it.

My memory begins at the crack of the bat

and the sight of the ball rising.

There's a long drive. It's gonna be, I believe...

the giants win the pennant!

The giants win the pennant!

The giants win the pennant!

[ Indistinct shouting ]

The giants win the pennant, and they're going crazy!

They're going crazy!

Whoo-hoo!

[ Cheers and applause ]

I don't believe it! I don't believe it!

[ Cheers and applause ]

Maybe that's not exactly the way it happened,

but that's the way it should have happened.

And that's the way I like to remember it.

And if dreams and memories sometimes get confused,

well... That's as it should be.

Because every kid deserves to be a hero.

Every kid already is.

[ Bat cracks ]

[ Cheers and applause ]