With the 2026 baseball season officially underway, what better time to look at The Natural, a classic 1984 film about America’s favorite pastime? Directed capably by Barry Levinson (Diner) it stars all-American Robert Redford as Roy Hobbs, a pitching and hitting wunderkind who wants to be “the best there ever was.” You wouldn’t usually associate the words magical, mystical, or mythological to a baseball movie, but The Natural is all three. It’s also a fairytale for sports-minded adults.
The story starts out with young Roy and his father (Alan Fudge) on their farm playing ball, with Roy having an innate talent for pitching. Later, his father dies of a heart attack and there is a storm where lightning splits a tree in two. From that tree Roy makes a baseball bat that he dubs “Wonderboy, burning the name and a lightning bolt on it. Roy has a girlfriend named Iris (Glenn Close) whom he wants to eventually marry. At 19, he wins a tryout with the Chicago Cubs arranged by Sam Simpson (John Finnegan), a baseball scout.
On the train to Chicago he meets “The Whammer” (Joe Don Baker), a baseball superstar (think Babe Ruth) accompanied by sportswriter Max Mercy (Robert Duvall). During a rest stop, Sam challenges Max that Roy can strike the Whammer out with three pitches…which, “naturally,” he does. Roy also encounters and flirts with a mysterious woman named Harriet (Barbara Hershey) on board. She calls him at his Chicago hotel and he visits her room. There she inexplicitly shoots and severely injures Hobbs, derailing his promising career, before leaping out a window to her death.
Sixteen years later, Roy is signed by the last-place New York Knights, managed by Pop Fisher (Wilford Brimley). The middle-aged rookie rides the bench until one day Pop has him pinch hit for slumping star Bump Bailey (Michael Madsen). Using “Wonderboy,” Hobbs hits the ball so hard that it unravels and he is awarded a triple. When Bump dies after crashing through the outfield fence trying to field a ball, Roy is tapped to replace him. His batting prowess results in him becoming the most popular Knights player.
Assistant manager Red (Richard Farnsworth of the twinkling eye) informs Hobbs that Pop needs the Knights to win the pennant to regain ownership of the team. It will become the Judge’s (Robert Prosky) if they lose. The Judge is a strange little man with an aversion to light, and he’s not above bribing or cheating to achieve his goals. Roy meets a prominent bookie named Gus (an unbilled Darren McGavin) and his helpmate Memo (Kim Basinger), who is Pop’s niece. Hobbs begins seeing Memo, who Hobbs believes is bad luck. Sure enough, the team falls into a slump, Roy included.
When the Knights arrive for a series in Chicago, Iris learns of his newfound success and shows up at a game. As he comes to the plate she stands up from her seat to catch his eye. He sees her…and he hits a home run. Afterwards they speak briefly and catch up, and at their next meeting Iris reveals she has a teenage son. Her presence reinvigorates Roy and the team once again is winning games.
Memo poisons Roy (to help the Judge and Gus) and he is rushed to the hospital, where it’s discovered that a fragment of the silver bullet Harriet shot him with years earlier damaged his stomach lining. He is advised to quit baseball, but Roy opts to play in a pennant-deciding playoff game in Pittsburgh. He gets a note from Iris revealing that her boy is his son. In the bottom of the ninth and the Knights needing some runs, Roy fouls a pitch off and splits his cherished “Wonderboy” bat. He has the batboy Bobby (George Wilkosz) choose another bat, and Bobby gives him one he has made himself. Roy hits a homer that lands in the stadium lights, creating a fireworks effect, and the Knights take the flag.
The Natural was adapted from a 1952 novel of the same name by Bernard Malamud. And believe me, the film’s triumphant ending differs greatly from how the book wound up. Roy’s wounding by Harriet was said to be based on the true story of Ruth Ann Steinhagen, who in 1949 shot Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Eddie Waitkus after becoming obsessed with him. Waitkus recovered from his injuries, but was never quite the star player he had been before. In the film Harriet commits suicide, while the real-life Steinhagen was committed to a mental institution and released in 1952.
The supporting cast is perfect. Old-timers Farnsworth and Brimley (the latter only two years younger than Redford) feel right at home in the dugout. Duvall, Basinger, Close, Hershey, and Madsen are all quite good in their roles. And Robert Redford? C’mon, the guy is a MOVIE STAR. You instantly root for his Roy Hobbs. Redford truly commands the screen. The cinematography by Caleb Deschanel is stunning, and the shot of Glenn Close rising up in the stands is a master class in lighting a film. Randy Newman composed the beautiful, Oscar-nominated score. Fun Fact: If you are from the greater Philadelphia area, you might remember how the theme was used constantly during the Phillies’ pennant-winning 1993 season.
The film became such a cultural influence that visitors to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown can see Roy’s “Wonderboy” and “Savoy Special” bats on display, as well as his New York Knights uniform. With both The Natural and Field of Dreams five years later, the simple act of a son playing catch with his father was not only a bonding moment, but a spiritual one as well.