HOT GALLERY: 12 Great Baseball Movies, as Chosen by Celebs and Snakkle

"If you build it, they will come." This film is one that both men and women will watch with a box of tissues in their lap. Gina Torres, currently appearing in the USA Network series Suits, agrees. "It speaks to that weepy-seepy part of me," she tells Snakkle, "that destiny is a part of us and we make choices by listening to our inner voice." Torres adds that the film is "beautifully acted" by a cast that includes Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, a wonderfully low-key Ray Liotta, the great James Earl Jones, and the late, great Burt Lancaster. The iconic "team in the cornfield" motif was used for a series of Pepsi Max commercials this year.

Katie Finneran, who stars in the canceled Fox series I Hate My Teenage Daughter, picks The Natural as her favorite baseball flick. "Robert Redford is such an amazing actor," she says, "and Randy Newman's score… it’s such an amazing movie." The entire cast is stellar—Redford, Glenn Close, Kim Basinger, Barbara Hershey, Wilford Brimley, and more.  Watch the trailer for The Natural here—doesn't it seem remarkably low-key compared to what we see today? Then again, 1984 was (gulp) 27 years ago.

Screenwriter Ron Shelton made his directorial debut with Bull Durham, the story of Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) and the minor league Durham Bulls. (Shelton and Costner teamed up again for the 1996 golf film Tin Cup.) Cliff Saunders, a host at 101 ESPN Radio in St. Louis, said via email that Bull Durham is his "favorite baseball movie of all time," because "it had a little bit of everything in it. The baseball fan [and] people looking for a good romantic comedy [could] relate." Actress Laura Bell Bundy (How I Met Your Mother) is also a big Bull Durham fan. "It’s sexy," she tells Snakkle, "and that bathtub seen at the end is so… Ahhhh! Oh my gosh, don’t you love it?!" Yes. Yes we do.

Nobody picked this animated baseball movie, but we love it. The story is the most unbelievable on this list, and this is a list that includes a movie about a guy who builds a baseball field in his backyard and then dead people show up. Set in 1932, Everyone's Hero is the story of a young Yankees fan named Yankee Irving (voiced by a pre-Wizards of Waverly Place Jake T. Austin), a talking bat (Whoopi Goldberg), a talking ball (Rob Reiner), and the most improbable climax you will ever see. But so what? It's a warm-hearted baseball story that parents can enjoy with their kids. You don't have to be a Yankees fan to love Everyone's Hero, but it helps. Sad fact: Christopher Reeve died while directing Everyone's Hero; his wife Dana Reeve continued as executive producer, then died herself before the film was finished. It is dedicated to their memory.

There is so much to love in A League of Their Own—Madonna's understated performance in a supporting role, Penny Marshall's pitch-perfect direction, and, of course, Tom Hanks as manager Jimmy Dugan. "There's no crying in baseball!" It doesn't get any better than this. Fun fact: Eddie Mekka has a cameo as a dancer in one scene; Mekka played Carmine "The Big Ragoo" Ragusa on Laverne & Shirley.

The Bad News Bears might be the most unique film on this list. It's a very funny comedy with a good message about scrappy players trying to achieve something on the field that may be beyond their skills. It is also as politically incorrect as it gets. For example, watch this final scene, in which Coach Morris Buttermaker (played by the immortal Walter Matthau) gives the kids beer. Why? Because he couldn't afford champagne. Duh. Make sure you watch the whole clip to hear what one of Buttermaker's players tells the opposing team.

ESPN's Cliff Saunders tells Snakkle that he has "always had a soft spot for Major League," which he describes as "totally unrealistic but funny as hell." The cast is great, including Charlie Sheen (pre-"winning"), Corbin Bernsen, Tom Berenger, and Wesley Snipes. And who could forget Bob Uecker's brilliant performance as announcer Harry Doyle. Two clips: "Nobody's listening anyway," and the instant classic, "Just a bit outside."

Mad Men's Bryan Batt tells Snakkle: "I’m a big sap. What’s the one with Dennis Quaid? The Rookie! That made me cry like a baby on a trip from Paris back to New York. We were sitting there, all of us, bawling our eyes out and everyone was looking at us like we were a bunch of idiots. He was so wonderful in that." The fact that it's based on a true story makes it even more touching. Even the trailer got us a little verklempt (talk amongst yourselves...).

When we asked The Big Year's Steven Weber to choose his favorite baseball film, he didn't hesitate for a second. "The Pride of the Yankees. It's just a great, incredibly moving movie. It's corny, but there are moments that never fail to break you down. 'Look at me, Mr. Gehrig, I can walk!' If you're not moved by that, you're dead… or you should be!" Couldn't have said it better ourselves.

The Sandlot is a simple film about a simpler time. Well, that's not entirely true. As Roger Ebert put it in his 1993 review, the film "tap[s] directly into a vein of nostalgia and memory that makes reality seem puny by comparison." In other words, things may never have actually been as simple as they are in The Sandlot, but it's a nice place to visit for a while. Ebert also praised The Sandlot because it "allows its kids to be kids," something that too often doesn't happen onscreen. Watch the trailer to see what he means.

Fans of 61*, directed by Billy Crystal, like to say that if you don't know what the asterisk is for, don't bother seeing the movie. We think that's a little unfair, so here's a brief explanation. Two players on the 1961 Yankees were in a race to break Babe Ruth's single season home-run record. It gets a little more complicated from there, involving whether or not the records would be considered the same because the length of the baseball season was now longer than before. (See? That wasn't so hard.) Like Everyone's Hero, this film is manna from heaven for Yankees fans, including Crystal himself. Watch the trailer here.

Moneyball, is the film that made Scott Porter (The Good Wife, Hart of Dixie) a baseball fan. "I'm from the Midwest," he tells Snakkle, "and college [sports] rules in Nebraska, [along with] pro football and hockey... so baseball was kind of the last sport I came to love." Also, "Moneyball was a hell of a movie." Audiences seem to share Porter's sentiment; according to BoxOfficeMojo, the film made over $75 million at the box office.