Before Kurt Russell was a grown-up movie star, he was a ballplayer. Playing the Tribeca Film Festival this week is The Battered Bastards of Baseball, which tells the story of an independent minor league team started by Russell's father, actor Bing Russell, and the eccentric characters whom it comprised. The team was the Portland Mavericks, for which Kurt played and was vice president. The team of outcasts shattered attendance records, produced the most successful batboy in baseball (filmmaker Todd Field), hired the first female general manager in baseball, and inspired bubblegum Big League Chew. Bing's grandchildren, Chapman and Maclain Way, made the doc, and here they share stories about the team with their uncle Kurt:
Tribeca Film Festival screenings:
WED 4/23 6:30 PM SVA Theater 1
SAT 4/26 4:00 PM Tribeca Cinemas Theater 1
TICKETS
The Battered Bastards of Baseball from Day for Night talks on Vimeo.
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