The Battered Bastards of Baseball (2014)

Wonderful documentary about a scrappy independent baseball team founded by Bing Russell, a character actor and father of Kurt.

When a sanctioned minor league team couldn't make a go of it in Portland, they pulled out of the town. This left an opportunity that only Bing was interested in taking. He'd grown up near the Yankee's spring training field, played a bit himself until an injury ended that career, and then moved to Hollywood, but his first love was always baseball. Turns out there are quite a few men whose first love is baseball -- and a whole lot of them will play for almost no money, but for boundless love of the game. This affection for the sport spread to the town. The team became so successful -- both in profitability and wins -- that establishment ball decided to squash it.

It's truly a heartwarming chapter that didn't last long enough. It's hard not to be discouraged at the way money takes precedence over fun in a game. Left me pretty sad.

B+