"Long Gone" is a bit of a deep-dive that I saw last year for the first time and liked it. It held up a second time. It has one of the highest ratings of all baseball movies on IMDB.com, 7.7 to Moneyball's 7.6. Now, I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's as good or better than Moneyball, but it's definetly a hidden gem. 

This is a made-for-tv movie by HBO that has a very Bull Durham feel to it. William Peterson, who has been in a bunch of CSI stuff, plays the lead, Stud Cantrell. This guy is a Han Solo-ish rake that is crude but likeable. A very young Dermot Mulroney plays the talented young infielder on the team, Jamie Weeks. While Weeks shows some serious baseball skills, he's very nieve and that makes him an easy mark for the rest of the team.  This movie is all abou the roughneck minor league vibe of decades gone by. Cantrell is trying to land a job managing in the bigs while Weeks is just trying to make his name in the game. Another familiar face, Virginai Madsen, plays the love interest to Cantrell and is somewhere between Annie Savoy and Millie from Bull Durham. 

All in all, the acting is decent, the story is fun, and the baseball feel is great. "Long Gone" is fun. It's not preaching anything. The on-field baseball is enjoyable, especially when you watch Mulroney. The dude can glove! This one sneaks into my top 15 if not my top 10. Give it a watch!
 

Bonus points: Who is the famous magician that acts in this movie?

Scorecard: Solid Double

Best line: Cantrell talking to the old groundskeeper, who's sitting on a stool on the pitcher's mound:  "Hey, Monroe!                           Break out the batting practice balls and grab a glove!"

                 Monroe: "What the hell for?"

                 Cantrell: "So I can see whether this kid is a ballplayer or not."

Run time: 1 hr 50 min

Where can you see it? You can find it on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI7qnrfNvQw