Before “Field of Dreams,” There was the Pittsburgh-shot “Angels in the Outfield”
One of the quintessential baseball movies is 1989’s Field of Dreams. Written and directed by Phil Alden Robinson, Field of Dreams was adapted from the 1982 novel Shoeless Joe. The story is a love letter to the sport, a means of tying the past and present together. Ray (Kevin Costner) lives on a corn farm with his family. While walking through the corn fields one day, Ray hears a voice say the now classic line, “If you build it, he will come.” Field of Dreams was nominated for three Academy Awards, and the filming location of Dyersville, Iowa, still sees thousands of tourists every year. On Thursday, August 13, Major League Baseball will host their third edition of the Field of Dreams Game with the Philadelphia Phillies facing off against the Minnesota Twins. While Pittsburgh's Pirates won’t be in Iowa, there’s a piece of baseball filmmaking unique to the Steel City.
Thirty-eight years before Kevin Costner built his Field of Dreams, Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field was a major location in 1951’s Angels in the Outfield. The film tells the story of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who are in last place in the league…not too much has changed in the years since apparently. Pirates manager Guffy McGovern (Paul Douglas) is approached by an angel who offers to give magical powers to the team, but only if Guffy turns himself around. No more swearing and fighting for him if he wants the Pirates to have a chance at the pennant. The angels came to him because of the prayers of a young girl, Bridget (Donna Corcoran), who prayed to the Archangel Gabriel.
Forbes Field remains the Pirates’ longest home ballpark, having spent sixty-one years there. While the stadium no longer exists, Angels in the Outfield will let longtime fans watch one more game there.
At first glance, it may seem odd that Angels in the Outfield was shot in Pittsburgh. The reasoning behind the decision is Bing Crosby. Not only was he a partial owner of the Pirates, but he, along with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, purchased the rights to the script. Branch Rickey, who was the team’s general manager, also campaigned for the film to center on the Pirates. Unsurprisingly, the Pirates were in a funk and he thought this movie might have the angelic magic to shake things up.
As part of the City’s and team’s bargaining with MGM, the Angels in the Outfield production was allowed to use Pirates uniforms, Forbes Field employees and utilities, and team equipment. Clarence Brown, the film’s director, also elected to use real game day footage in the film. All of these resources were free to the film as long as the premiere was held in Pittsburgh. When Angels in the Outfield was remade in 1994, the premiere was also held in Pittsburgh, this time at Three Rivers Stadium, despite the fact that the team in the new film was the California Angels.
The 1951 Angels in the Outfield had its world premiere with two screenings at the Loew’s Penn Theatre on September 7, 1951. Because of a game against the St. Louis Cardinals that evening, the Pirates team attended the afternoon screening.
On a personal note, my grandfather is an extra in the 1951 Angels in the Outfield. One of my first movie memories is wanting to show him what I thought was the funniest movie in the world: Max Keeble's Big Move. He may not have been the one who taught me about movies, but he was the one who taught me about jokes. He’s not with us any longer, but if I ever want to watch another movie with him, I can always turn on Angels in the Outfield.
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