There’s A Long Lost Bio-Pic About A Michigan Born Tigers Player
Over the years, many great baseball movies have been released. From the more popular ones from A League of Their Own, the Major League franchise, Field of Dreams, and many others, the art of doing a movie about baseball is pretty much embedded into the American culture.
After all, it is America’s pastime, and many baseball films have slid under the radar regarding popularity and exposure. Primarily there have been a few movies based around the Detroit Tigers, which until recently, were not well known. One of the movies was a made-for-TV movie in 1983 called Tigertown, which starred the man who is best known for his role in Jaws, Ron Scheider. It was also Disney's first made-for-TV movie. But another lesser-known Tigers movie was about the former Detroit Tigers Roy LeFlore.
The movie was a biofilm about LeFlore’s as Davenport Sports Network describes how an early troubled life was turned into success:
On September 26, 1978 the made-for-television biographical sports drama “One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story” premiered on CBS! The film tells the story of Ron LeFlore (played by LeVar Burton), a troubled Detroit youth who rose from Michigan prisons to star in the MLB with the Detroit Tigers. The film was based on LeFlore's autobiography, “Breakout: From Prison to the Big Leagues.”
What's even cooler is that even some Detroit Tigers greats lent their services for the film. Former Detroit manager Billy Martin played himself, and former Tigers’ players Norm Cash, Bill Freehan, Al Kaline, and Jim Northrup also appeared as themselves.
Have you ever seen Tiger Town or One In A Million? I'm surprised there have been movies made about the Detroit Tigers that have been long underappreciated. I'd love to hear your thoughts on what other Detroit Tiger-based films you think would be worth making.