The story follows 12-year-old Billy Heywood (Luke Edwards), a baseball fanatic with an encyclopedic knowledge of the game. When his grandfather, Thomas Heywood (Jason Robards), passes away, he leaves Billy "his very favorite thing": the .
The most common confusion about Little Big League is lumping it together with Rookie of the Year . Both came out in 1993-1994, both feature kids, and both have a baseball setting. But where Rookie of the Year is a supernatural comedy (a broken arm turns a kid into a 100-mph flamethrower), Little Big League is grounded in the reality of baseball strategy.
The team is a motley collection of archetypes that the 90s did so well: Lou Collins (John Ashton), the aging slugger with a bad back but a bigger heart; Mac Macnally (a pre-fame Timothy Busfield), the slick-fielding shortstop who resents the kid; Jerry Johnson (Dennis Farina in a surprisingly tender role), the veteran catcher who becomes Billy’s surrogate father; and the fictional "Wiffle" umpire (funnyman Jonathan Silverman), who brings the slapstick.
The story follows 12-year-old Billy Heywood (Luke Edwards), a baseball fanatic with an encyclopedic knowledge of the game. When his grandfather, Thomas Heywood (Jason Robards), passes away, he leaves Billy "his very favorite thing": the .
The most common confusion about Little Big League is lumping it together with Rookie of the Year . Both came out in 1993-1994, both feature kids, and both have a baseball setting. But where Rookie of the Year is a supernatural comedy (a broken arm turns a kid into a 100-mph flamethrower), Little Big League is grounded in the reality of baseball strategy.
The team is a motley collection of archetypes that the 90s did so well: Lou Collins (John Ashton), the aging slugger with a bad back but a bigger heart; Mac Macnally (a pre-fame Timothy Busfield), the slick-fielding shortstop who resents the kid; Jerry Johnson (Dennis Farina in a surprisingly tender role), the veteran catcher who becomes Billy’s surrogate father; and the fictional "Wiffle" umpire (funnyman Jonathan Silverman), who brings the slapstick.