The Perfect Game

[Olympic Fan]

Somebody help me out ...

I was just reading the blurb in today's USA Today about William Winokur's new book "The Perfect Game" -- a "Based on a true story" account of the 1957 Monterrey (Mexico) Little League team that won the Little League World Series (one of the great underdog stories in sports history).

Winokur's book is being made into a movie that will be released later this year with a cast of relative unknowns (Cheech Marin has a small role).

That's not the issue. It reminded me of somthing that's been bugging me for a long, long time ... Not too long after the Monterrey team won the World Series, somebody did a TV documentary/dramatization of their story. I have vivid memories of the show -- I know, for instance, that it was in black and white. I remember that it made a big impression on me at the time (I was a kid, maybe 8-12 years old).

To this day, I can't find any hint that this show exists. It would have been done sometime in the late 1950s or early 1960s. Does anybody else have any memory or knowledge of this? If so, I'd appreciate hearing from you.

[tbyers11]

Somebody help me out ...

I was just reading the blurb in today's USA Today about William Winokur's new book "The Perfect Game" -- a "Based on a true story" account of the 1957 Monterrey (Mexico) Little League team that won the Little League World Series (one of the great underdog stories in sports history).

Winokur's book is being made into a movie that will be released later this year with a cast of relative unknowns (Cheech Marin has a small role).

That's not the issue. It reminded me of somthing that's been bugging me for a long, long time ... Not too long after the Monterrey team won the World Series, somebody did a TV documentary/dramatization of their story. I have vivid memories of the show -- I know, for instance, that it was in black and white. I remember that it made a big impression on me at the time (I was a kid, maybe 8-12 years old).

To this day, I can't find any hint that this show exists. It would have been done sometime in the late 1950s or early 1960s. Does anybody else have any memory or knowledge of this? If so, I'd appreciate hearing from you.

Never heard of this story before, but a quick Google search turns up this page from the Latino Film Institute (http://www.latinofilm.org/programs.php) (scroll to the bottom) with a blurb about it. Searching IMDB for Little Giants brings up this entry for Pequeños gigantes, Los (1960) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051869/). Sounds like a cool story and hopefully the original documentary will get more publicity with the new book and upcoming film.

[dkbaseball]

Yeah, I remember it. I think it was called How Tall is a Giant. Featured the ambidextrous pitcher for Monterrey, Angel Macias. My recollection is circa 1960 or 1961. I think it was a regular movie, and not a documentary, but I'm not recalling too clearly. IIRC, Monterrey won again in 1958, and their pitcher that year later played shortstop for the Astros -- Hector Torres, was it?

[jimsumner]

Well, I don't remember much from the '60s, so I can't help you.

Seriously, must be a slow day in Olympic Fans' house. :)

[dkbaseball]

Actually, this is kind of sobering, to think that How Tall is a Giant is now an obscure memory for fogeys to try to dredge up. It was a huge deal in my circle of California little leaguers when it was broadcast on TV. That seems like yesterday. Of course, as my 94-year-old father is always saying, time compresses when you get older and appears ever more illusory, an artificial construct imposed by the human mind on experience. This observation is in accord with the views of the mystics of all the great religious traditions, the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, and, quite possibly, the physics of Albert Einstein. I'm nowhere close to grasping this insight, if such it be, but I do feel like the schoolyard buzz about How Tall is a Giant just happened.

[jimsumner]

My but this has taken a philosophical bent. Memory is a most curious thing. Most of us boomers have had that sensation when we can't remember the name of someone we met last week but we can remember the names of everybody on our high school basketball team from 40 years ago.

[dkbaseball]

My but this has taken a philosophical bent. Memory is a most curious thing. Most of us boomers have had that sensation when we can't remember the name of someone we met last week but we can remember the names of everybody on our high school basketball team from 40 years ago.

Oh yeah, though the problem for me is a little more short term. I'll remember the name of someone I met last week, but the thing I intended two minutes ago to google -- that's what's tending to disappear. I've gotten in the habit of repeating it a couple of times to myself or attaching a mnemonic device. Most of the names of old teammates are solidly intact.

Just to add to OF's account of the Monterrey Giants, the thing that made them such a story was that they came from the worst sort of hardscrabble poverty. Just finding the money to travel to games was a major accomplishment.

[Olympic Fan]

Guys,

Thanks for all the responses. tbyers11 -- you nailed it. The page from the Latin Film Institute had the best and most complete info, including the news that NBC broadcast the film under the new title "How Tall a Giant" (Los Pequenos gigantes is technically closer to "Little Giants", which was the English language release of the film in the theaters) in 1960 and 1961.

I'm sure that's when I saw it.

Fascinating that the director, Hugo Butler, was a Canadian who was blacklisted, so he directed this film under the name Hugo Mozo. He was a pretty successful screenwriter before the blacklist, working with Luis Bunel and also writing the screenplay for such films as "Lassie Come Home", "Young Tom Edison" and "Edison the Man"

I have one list nagging question. The listing at the Latin Film Institute says that this film was in Spanish with English subtitles. Does anybody else remember, when it was shown in NBC, would they really have used subtitles or was it likely dubbed? I certainly don't remember subtitles, but it's possible.

PS I looked around to see if it were possible to buy a copy ... it doesn't seem to be available. Maybe the release of the new film "The Perfect Game" will stir some action -- I've seen that happen before on the VHS/DVD market -- when a remake comes out, sometimes an old version will be released too.

[budwom]

My but this has taken a philosophical bent. Memory is a most curious thing. Most of us boomers have had that sensation when we can't remember the name of someone we met last week but we can remember the names of everybody on our high school basketball team from 40 years ago.

Right, Fort! (there's a brain twitch from 40 years ago)

[budwom]

Guys,

Thanks for all the responses. tbyers11 -- you nailed it. The page from the Latin Film Institute had the best and most complete info, including the news that NBC broadcast the film under the new title "How Tall a Giant" (Los Pequenos gigantes is technically closer to "Little Giants", which was the English language release of the film in the theaters) in 1960 and 1961.

I'm sure that's when I saw it.

Fascinating that the director, Hugo Butler, was a Canadian who was blacklisted, so he directed this film under the name Hugo Mozo. He was a pretty successful screenwriter before the blacklist, working with Luis Bunel and also writing the screenplay for such films as "Lassie Come Home", "Young Tom Edison" and "Edison the Man"

I have one list nagging question. The listing at the Latin Film Institute says that this film was in Spanish with English subtitles. Does anybody else remember, when it was shown in NBC, would they really have used subtitles or was it likely dubbed? I certainly don't remember subtitles, but it's possible.

PS I looked around to see if it were possible to buy a copy ... it doesn't seem to be available. Maybe the release of the new film "The Perfect Game" will stir some action -- I've seen that happen before on the VHS/DVD market -- when a remake comes out, sometimes an old version will be released too.


Try E-Bay. Just about the only conceivable source, OF.