Bull Durham (1988) - 9 corrections

In the game against the Bucs where Nuke is having a great game and hits the Bull, he blows off Crash's call for a fastball. Crash stands up and says "Charlie, here comes the deuce," but when the P.A. announcer says the player's name, she says "Jimmy." ["Charlie" is a commonly used generic name in baseball.]

The boys are well into the season by the time Crash is called up. Should be summer time. During one of the games at home, Crash and Nuke are talking on the mound and you can see their breath like it is winter, not late spring or early summer in North Carolina. [The average low temperature in Durham, NC in mid-May is 53 degrees, with records in the 30s.]

Nuke LaLoosh is actually based on a real Minor League pitcher, Steve Dalkowski. Dalkowski threw about 110-115 mph and couldn't find the plate, much like the LaLoosh character. The connection? Ron Shelton, the director, played Minor League baseball with Steve in the Orioles farm system. Steve was such a crackpot (IQ of 60, drank like a fish, actually hit a fan some 27 rows into the stands, etc.), Shelton decided he would base a character on him. [I know that exageration makes for good movies but you've taken it a bit too far here. The fastest recorded pitch in history is 102 mph. 110-115 is simply laughable and shows that you didn't do your homework. Dalkowski's fastball was in the high 90's and like many other minor leaguers with a blazing fastball, he couldn't control it but hitting someone 27 rows deep and throwing 115 mph is strictly fantasy. You've relied on heresay instead of getting your facts straight.]

I'm not saying this is a mistake but it certainly is amusing for those who know baseball. After Nuke's first professional start, the coaches are recapping his game. They say "18 strikeouts, new league record" "18 walks, another new league record". Keep in mind that this is his FIRST professional start. 18 walks multiplied by the minimum 4 pitches is 72 pitches. 18 strikeouts X the minimum 3 is another 54. It's safe to assume that anyone who walked 18 wouldn't have struck out 18 on three pitches each so lets assume that Nuke threw an average of 2 balls to each batter he struck out, another 36 pitches. To be generous, we'll say he didn't throw even 1 strike to the 18 that he walked. This also doesn't take into consideration any hits that the other team had that didn't result in an out or a walk or any foul balls, hit batters or warm up pitches between innings. Even funnier is that at the time Nuke pitched, his teams record was 0-3 and hadn't scored any runs all season. After the game when Nuke is being interviewed, he is asked how it felt to get his first professional win. First, he would have thrown at least 162 pitches but realistically well more than this just by logical baseball math. Second, how many runs would his inept Durham Bulls team have had to score to get him this win if he walked 18? There are so many laughable baseball goofs but I'm not calling them bloopers. I understand that there were certain liberties taken in order to tell the story and it's still my favorite movie of all time. But over 200 pitches in his debut? And he got the win? Too funny. [18 walks and 18 strikeouts is not a laughable baseball goof. The character of Nuke is based on Steve Dalkowski. Once when Steve was in high school he threw a complete game no-hitter in which he struck out 18 men and walked another 18. In 1960 Steve averaged 14 strikeouts and 14 walks per 9 innings. He onced threw 283 pitches for a complete game in which he struck out 27 batters and walked 16. None of what happened in Bull Durham is impossible because Steve has done most of what was depicted in the movie.]

After Nuke is called up to "The Show" Crash is released and goes to Asheville to play out the rest of the season. Nuke says the big league has expanded the roster. This happens on September 1st each year. The minor league season usually ends at this same time so it would be impossible for Crash to go to Asheville to continue playing. [Many independent leagues that aren't affiliated with the maojr leagues continue well into September.]

In the scene where Crash bets three of his teammates that he can get them a rainout, one of the three that accepts his bet is a black teammate. When they arrive at the park to over water the field and run the muddy bases, all three players are white, including Nuke, who wasn't part of the original bet. [Why would Crash take the guys who he bet with him? Or if he would take them along, why would they just let him do it, sure they want a day off, but they don't want to lose 100 dollars.]

In the opening narration, Annie Savoy states, "...there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball." While it's true that a baseball has 108 stitches, there are only 59 beads in a Catholic rosary. [The original Catholic Rosary did contain 108 beads, it was "streamlined" down to 59. A rosary contained 10 decades of 10 "Hail Marys" (100 beads) and 8 "Our Fathers" for 8 beads which equals 108.]

During Crash's first at-bat with the Bulls he is batting left handed. In all of his other at-bats, including at the batting cages, he is batting right handed. [Switch-hitters do exist in professional baseball.]

In one of the games near the end of the movie, an advertisement for an L.A. radio station, KIIS-FM, is clearly visible on the back fence. The Bulls are based in Durham, North Carolina. [There's a Kiss FM in North Carolina].