The Natural - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of The Natural or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to The Natural

[jamie]

In the bottom of the 9th inning, Youngberry gives up a double followed by fielding error putting runners at 1st and 3rd base. While it was not uncommon back then for pitchers to pitch from the windup with a runner on 3rd or 2nd and 3rd, had they done so with runners at 1st and 3rd, the runner at 1st would easily have taken 2nd on defensive indifference. But when Hobbs hits the long foul ball that breaks Wonderboy, there is still a Knights runner on 1st.

[aaron]

A newspaper in the latter part of the movie shows the date of June 7, 1939.

[gerald]

Frank Giroux, not Buffalo Mayor Jimmy Griffin, briefly appeared as an opposing team coach in the scene where Roy knocks the cover off the ball.

[albert]

It loosely inspired one episode of The X Files, The Unnatural.

[wallace]

The film cast includes three Oscar winners: Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, and Kim Basinger; and three Oscar nominees: Glenn Close, Barbara Hershey, and Richard Farnsworth.

[steve]

Among images in a montage of Roy's growing fame, we see copies of Life Magazine being printed with Roy's picture on the cover. The magazine is dated August 14, 1939. The actual issue of Life Magazine published that day had a photo of baby, child actress Sandra Lee Henville.

[cassandra]

The steam locomotive used in the film is ex-Grand Trunk Western 2-8-2 Mikado No. 4070, lettered for the production as Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 4070. Built by the American Locomotive Company in Schenectady, New York, in 1918 as GTW 3734, it was renumbered 4070 in 1957 and made its final revenue run in March 1960. It has been used in excursion service periodically since.

[jesse]

Glenn Close's initial appearance at the ballpark was carefully planned to give her the appearance of a guardian angel. They waited until a clear day, when the setting sun would be just at the right spot in the background to shine through her translucent hat, making it appear as a halo around her head.

[lena]

Boston Red Sox great Ted Williams' single goal while playing baseball was for people to say, "There goes the greatest hitter who ever lived" (a sentiment echoed by Roy Hobbs in this movie). Like Williams, Hobbs wears number 9 on his uniform, and Williams and Hobbs hit home runs in their last career at-bats. Hobbs was also an outfielder, like Williams was. According to Roger Angell of the New Yorker, Redford modeled his swing on Williams'. Angell added that Redford plays so authentically, "you want to sign him up".

[elmer]

In 2001, Bill Simmons of ESPN Magazine compiled Roy Hobbs's 1939 rookie season stats, taking cues from the movie. His line would've looked something like this: 115 Games Played, 400 At Bats, 92 Runs, 140 Hits, 44 Home Runs, 106 Runs Batted In, .350 Batting Average. Hobbs struck out 85 times and walked 75 times.

[sophie]

Director Barry Levinson did the uncredited voice of the Knights Radio play by play. According to Levinson, he had intended to have a professional broadcaster do the role, but didn't have proper time during post-production to find someone for the part.

[wallace]

When Roy Hobbs first joins the Knights, mid-season, the equipment manager declines to give him a uniform with number 11 on it, asserting that the number 11 is "bad luck", and Hobbs winds up with number 9. There is no specific curse or jinx baseball recognizes about the number 11, but the sixteenth century scholar, Petrus Bungus, said that the number 11 "has no connection with divine things, no ladder reaching up to things above, nor any merit." Rather, he concluded that the number 11 was stuck between the divine numbers 10 and 12, and therefore 11 was pure evil, and represented sinners.

[linda]

Hobbs breaking the scoreboard clock with a home run was inspired by Bama Rowell of the Boston Braves doubling off the Ebbets Field scoreboard clock on May 30, 1946, showering Dixie Walker with glass. Though he'd been promised a free watch by Bulova for hitting the company's scoreboard sign, Rowell had to wait until 1987 to receive it.

[ivan]

In the climatic scene where Roy homers to win pennant, even though he has been given the "Savoy Special", he hits homer with "Wonderboy".

[tammy]

The filmmakers scouted the country for a stadium to use in game scenes. They needed something nondescript with a pre-World War II feel, and found it in Buffalo's War Memorial Stadium. The stadium, built in 1937 and demolished in 1988, had a shorter distance down the right field line than is shown in the movie. The stadium had been renovated prior to filming, which could explain the extra hundred feet displayed on the right field wall.

[ethel]

The Pirate's manager in the play-off game was played by former major league player and coach Sibby Sisty.

[caroline]

While Darren McGavin had a major supporting role as the bookmaker Gus Sands, he received no credit. In the recent retrospective documentary on the Special Edition DVD of this movie, Robert Prosky (the Judge) claimed that McGavin was cast late in the picture, and would have received a lesser billing than the other stars. Thus McGavin chose to go uncredited. Prosky noted that McGavin wound up "drawing more attention to himself" as a result.

[jessie]

While the story is an adaptation of the book by Bernard Malamud, the plot has been changed for movie to be more "uplifting". Several characters and symbols are heavily influenced by the writings of Homer and Greek mythology: - the line, "Have you ever read Homer?" Roy Hobbs = Odysseus. He is trying to "find his way" (home). Max Mercy = Vulcan, God of Fire and Forging. He can "make or break you", and is always seen in red or brown clothing. Pop Fisher = Zeus, King of the Gods. His uniform is #1, and both the oak tree and lightning bolt à la the Wonderboy bat, are his symbols. The Judge = Hades, God of the Underworld. He is always in the dark, a.k.a. death, and the dead are "judged" in the underworld. Memo Paris = Kalypso, a sea nymph who had an affair with Odysseus and held or distracted him from returning home. Kalypso means "I will conceal" in Greek. Gus Sands = the Cyclops. Gus has the one strange eye. Iris Gaines = Penelope, wife of Odysseus. Roy's true love, from whom he was separated for sixteen years, while she raised their son. - Hubris = when Roy states his goal is for people to say, "there goes Roy Hobbs, the best there ever was in this game", this is what the Greeks considered to be hubris, and for that, a person would often suffer turmoil.