The Great American Pastime 1956

In a small New York town called Willow Falls, the Panthers, a local Little League baseball team, need a new manager. Bruce Hallerton [Tom Ewell], a lawyer by trade, volunteers to coach so he can spend more time with his son Dennis [Rudy Lee]. When it turns out Dennis is instead assigned to the Tigers, Betty Hallerton [Anne Francis] assumes Bruce will quit, but he feels a commitment has been made and decides to press on. Bruce sets about guiding the Panthers to value effort over winning, though many parents disagree, and Tigers coach Ed Ryder [Judson Pratt] will spare no tactic to secure a victory.

A widow named Doris Patterson [Ann Miller] flirts with Bruce in an attempt to influence him to let her son Herbie pitch for the team. Meanwhile, the wealthy banker George Carruthers [Raymond Bailey] invites the Hallertons over for dinner, pressing his own son Foster as a prospective star under Bruce’s watch. At first the Panthers struggle, drawing scorn from spectators and even Bruce’s son, and Betty grows increasingly critical of her husband’s methods. She even studies baseball from a manual to become the team’s official scorekeeper and keep an eye on him.

After Bruce politely rejects Doris’s advances, tensions flare and another quarrel erupts between the Panthers and Tigers. In a moment of personal weakness, Bruce goes to a bar with his buddy [Bob Jellison] as O’Keefe and ends up a bit tipsy. He returns home to find the front door bolted by his wife, a stark reminder of the emotional stakes at play.

In the next game, Bruce decides to give O’Keefe’s son a chance—the fast youngster nicknamed “Man Mountain”—and he proves to be a breakout hero, lifting the Panthers to a surprising victory. Yet the people around him fail to immediately offer congratulations, and Bruce returns home feeling unappreciated and vowful never to volunteer again. However, when the entire group of parents and kids later gathers to thank him, he accepts a renewed sense of purpose and volunteers to become a scoutmaster for the boys.