The casting of Edward G. Robinson in "Big Leaguer" is very odd, as I cannot see how anyone would picture him as a coach for a major league team...even the coach in charge of try-outs during Spring Training. However odd this is, the film worked okay and it was much like taking a trip back through time to watch a group of young people try their luck in camp. Is any of this life-changing and amazing? No...but it's all very pleasant and it's also nice to see Carl Hubbell (a Hall of Fame pitcher) playing, of all people, himself. Overall, a pleasant little film...worth seeing and kind of sentimentally sweet at times.

Baseball fans, which are many, will not be the only ones to enjoy this light-hearted fare of a baseball rookie camp where the pro's are weeded out from the amateurs. Told through the narration of a sports columnist, this is slice-of-life drama at its most all American, almost Disney-esque in nature. Edward G. Robinson is a former professional player ("Your grandfathers used to watch me play third base", he tells the young men upon their arrival. Now one of the trainers who must stay on and who moves back home to attempt other ambitions, he is assisted by his pretty daughter, a non-dancing Vera-Ellen. She takes an interest in a strong but silent loner (Jeff Richards) while other players show ego, provide comic relief, or attempt to improve their English while dreaming of a future in the great American pastime.It's nice to see a film like this that doesn't resort to any violence or sexual or romantic intrigue, or even show any back-stabbing in a very team-oriented sport. This is a film that doesn't try to be anything more than what it is, and it is a film that works through "moments", not through an over-stuffed plot. Comic moments include a not-so-attractive close-up of the middle-aged Robinson, hair askew, after a rookie yet cocky pitcher, almost knocks his lights out, and another where the team's comic mimes a slow-motion pitch. Richards is touching in his quite role, dealing with an indifferent father and a hero-worshiping younger brother whom you know will one day attend the same camp. So don't judge too harshly for being witness to a film almost sweet in its vision of hopeful youngsters becoming men by attempting to achieve the goals millions of kids have only dreamed of.

There are very few good baseball films and certainly this isn't one of them but Robert Aldrich somehow makes it all watchable. Edward G. Robinson is so good you actually believe he is baseball veteran Hans Lobert, who really lived and played ball for several teams in the early 20th century. Lobert's real name was Honus but everyone called him Hans, same as Honus Wagner, everyone called him Hans, too. The real Carl Hubbell and the real Al Campanis (who's next appearance was probably on the Nightline Show that cost him his job as Dodger general manager when he maligned African-Americans!)show up in this unknown and odd film which only runs 71 minutes. Richard Jaekel has one of his best parts and shows a real naturalness. It's nice to see him in something other than a war movie. And finally there's Vera Ellen, the smallest waist in Hollywood, doing a movie outside of her husband's, Herbert Yates, Republic Studios. An odd film for fanatical baseball fans only.

For a film that is set in the New York Giants training camp of 1953, the biggest surprise for me is the fact that manager Leo Durocher did not appear in it. Leo at the time was married to Laraine Day and was quite at home in the movie colony. And he was a natural ham.This is not spring training with the New York Giants. In fact the Giants down to today do their spring training in Arizona. This is a winter instructional school, something pioneered by the Giants across the Harlem River rivals, the Yankees. Here the school is run by veteran baseball coach Hans Lobert.There was in fact a real Hans Lobert, a very good third baseman who played in the beginning and teen years of the last century for such teams as the Phillies and the Giants among others. His style of play in the field was very similar to baseball immortal Hans Wagner, hence John Lobert became popularly known as Hans Lobert. At third base he was the Brooks Robinson of his day and while he didn't hit in the same class as Hans Wagner(very few ever did)he was no easy out at the plate. Edward G. Robinson plays the real life Hans Lobert who's dealing with some promising rookies like Jeff Richards, William Campbell, Richard Jaeckel among others. Robinson acts like a father confessor to all these kids as he deals with not just their playing skills, but a few personal problems as well. The real Lobert was known to do just that, he was a beloved figure in baseball.Baseball Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell made an appearance in Big Leaguer, I suppose to lend authenticity. He was some pitcher in his day as well with a screwball that could practically turn a corner backwards.Another reviewer made a comment about the players being all white at the school. Oddly enough the Giants had integrated at that point, becoming the second team in the National League to do so following the Dodgers. A star rookie from 1951 named Willie Mays was in the army at this time, but the Giants had Monte Irvin and Hank Thompson playing for them at the point in time Big Leaguer was filmed. My guess would be that at this point in time the Giants like many other teams weren't signing black prospects fresh out of school. They were instead raiding the Negro Leagues for proved players. The Negro Leagues were in their last stages, in fact the last star player signed out of them was a man who played for the Indianapolis Clowns named Hank Aaron. I have a funny feeling that Giant owner Horace Stoneham made this film in response to the success that the Dodgers enjoyed in 1950 with the Jackie Robinson Story. Big Leaguer is a much better film than that was. This film isn't about stars, but about eager young prospects trying to make the grade. It's got a good baseball feel to it. Baseball fans will love it, hopefully it will come out one day on DVD and VHS.And wasn't Hans Lobert one lucky fellow to have himself portrayed on the screen by an established movie star.