Episode 24: The Bad News Bears: Irreverent GenX Classic: Part 1.

Welcome back to GenX Classic Sports, where we discuss vintage sports, athletes, games, and other memorable events from the sports world we grew up in, from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

Today's episode isn’t your average underdog story. It’s messy, it’s politically incorrect by today’s standards, and it’s absolutely packed with the kind of grit, humor, and heart that only a Gen X classic can deliver. We’ve got Walter Matthau as the beer-guzzling coach, Tatum O’Neal breaking barriers as a little league pitching phenom, and Jackie Earle Haley riding in like a teenage James Dean on a dirt bike.

Whether you saw it in the theater, on cable TV, or rented it from the local video store on a Friday night, The Bad News Bears wasn’t just a baseball movie—it was a cultural moment. It captured what it felt like to be a kid in the ‘70s: a little wild, a little rebellious, and totally unfiltered.

Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more nostalgia-packed content covering GenX retro sports, and the athletes who defined a generation. Let's roll back the years — this is GenX Classic Sports!"

Remember, we post new episodes every other Monday.

Production Credits:

Intro and outro music: Mason Enis

Narrator: Haylee Wolf

Copyright @ PineStreetProductions 2025. Any illegal reproduction of this content will result in immediate legal action.

Transcript

welcome sports fans to Gen X Classic Sports where we bring the nostalgia of our sportsfilled youth into the present
day Grab your favorite retro jersey crack open a cold one and let's stroll down memory lane together Welcome back
everybody And I just have to say we are proud to announce our first partnership with a great company Aunt Suzies Granola
Auntsizgranola.com The owner Erica has generously offered our listeners a great deal From now
until July 31st listeners of our little podcast can use the code Gen XClass
Sports all one word Gen XClassic Sports for a 20% discount one per customer
That's Gen X Classic Sports one word for a 20% discount through July 31st at Aunt
Suzies Granola Au Nuzies Granola All right Well so this will be this will be
episodes 24 and 25 most likely Um and this will be our movie I don't say movie
review cuz if we didn't like it it wouldn't be one I picked to talk about So we obviously like the movie So we're
going to talk about The Bad News Bears And I mean the original one from 1976
which was actually the year Casey was born So Casey may join us later Mark may
join us later I got David with me now We don't know who's joining in We've got a couple of people who might pop in So um
I was going to do this one by myself and then I thought no somewhere in the back of my mind I know I've heard David at
least say that he really enjoyed the Bad News Bears Absolutely Back in the day So
that's why I brought it up to you guys if you wanted to kick in So um so what
do you like about this movie so much since uh you were the first one that piped up and said "Yeah I I'd love to
talk about it It's It's just funny I I I don't know It
has so many funny little oneliners in it I guess you could say Yeah And it's uh
you know never mind the the underdog story and all that It's just some in
some ways it's kind of just out there too cuz you got a you know a big- time
alcoholic drunk just staying drunk most coach you know coaching these smart
eloic little kids and it's just it's just funny It's just I don't know There's not many movies like that that I
remember Yeah And it's rated PG and what I call 1970s style which means they got
away with some cussing and stuff in the 70s for a PG Yes Do you mind if I give a
brief kind of synopsis of the story and we can launch into details as we go Maybe Go right ahead So for those who
don't know which if you're listening to this and have never seen the movie I don't know why you are but we appreciate
you either way joining us but The Bad News Bears came out in 1976 It was
filmed in 1975 It's set in uh the Los Angeles area basically up in what they
call the valley I guess And the story basically is that Walter Matau well let
me back up The story basically is that this supposedly highly competitive little league
um has made their cuts and there's a whole team there's a m there's an amount
of kids that didn't make any teams left over that would constitute making a whole new team and the league won't
allow that and so one of the kids who got cut his dad is a lawyer and he sues
the league and wins or threatens to sue I don't really I think he actually sues
I think He sued him there Yeah And that that's Toby's father who who sues them
Mr uh what's his name White something Whitewood White something Whitewood Isn't it
Whitewood Bob Whitewood is Toby's father Bob sues the league He he is then given
the task of okay create a team from all these kids that didn't make the other
teams And so Whitewood somehow hires Morris Buttermaker played
by the great one of my favorite actors ever Walter Matthau plays Buttermaker
And one of the first things you need to know about the movie is Buttermaker is referred to by three four five different
names throughout the course of the movie Yep Someone calls him Boiler Maker Someone calls him Butterworth Someone
calls him I don't know what all but he Butterfinger Butterfinger He gets called everything but his name is Morris
Buttermaker Nearly every time He is a former Go ahead Nearly every time the kids
address him it's a different name It's a different name Nearly every time And most of the adults actually Yeah And so
Buttermaker is a former minor league baseball pitcher who had a moment in the
sun uh in the minors and what a cup of coffee in the pro in the majors maybe I
can't remember Maybe Uh don't I don't It wasn't much And so he's a drunk and he
has this huge I believe Cadillac that has the trunk missing the trunk lid missing And he throws all of his uh
swimming pool cleaning supplies in the back of that and he drives it like a pickup with
the top down and all the stuff in the back The hoses are hanging out and the long handles and all that It's hilarious
And uh so this guy hires him to coach this
team of misfits And I think one of the things that's important about this movie that kind of holds up is that it kind of
shines a light on the stuff that you and I and other people joke about today with some of the youth sports and parents and
travel ball versus wreck league ball and all these different things It kind of comes up in that 50 years ago nearly
because Yep one of the first convers Okay so anyway he meet the one in the opening of the
movie he meets one of the opposing coaches and that guy is played by Vic
Morrow and that coach's uh name is coach Roy Turner played by Vic Morrow He's the
head coach of the Yankees and he's one of the first people that Buttermaker runs into at the beginning of the movie
and the guy tells him "I'm not happy that this happened with these other kids getting their chance to play." and we
run a highly I think he says multiple times we run a highly competitive league
And so if he says that what does he mean What is he what's he really saying If he cut all these kids and didn't want them
to play and tells Butterworth Buttermaker Bowler Maker that it's a highly competitive league What's he
really saying He's telling them they don't deserve to be in the league In fact in fact he tells them to find go to
another league or he wish they would have went to another league Yeah He says any you know other leagues that take you
guys we're we're so competitive We don't want you You know he basically says you guys are going to be a
laughingstock And so I'm sure Whitewood doing the best he can He hires someone
He We don't know how he knows Buttermaker but he hires Buttermaker because Buttermaker has pro ball
experience And so that's the setup See I take it he he secretly hires
Buttermaker because he because he don't want to discuss the money in front of his son and he secretly hires him for money
Yeah Secretly hires him and pays him for money Secretly pays him Secretly pays secretly pays him That's right But that
I take it that that Whitewood guy is all talk about not having enough time He I
He strikes me as one of those parents that is quote unquote too busy to to bother himself to coach but yet he's
full of all kinds of ideas on how to coach right
And then you get the notion right off the bat that coach Turner played by Vic
Morrow the coach of the uh Yankees not only does he semi-run the league even though there's a woman there they
introduce who kind of runs the league Not only does he seemingly kind of run the league he also seemingly thinks he
knows more than maybe the other coaches and thinks he has the best team and all that kind of you get you get all of that out of him in like the first two
conversations with the guy right which is great writing by the way It does not take you a whole movie to find out that
this guy is an uber competitive you know youth sports coach It's great writing in
that regard We'll talk about that later Buttermaker on the other hand is the
complete opposite Even though he's getting paid to do this you know his attitude is he really just doesn't care
He's just there for the money And so what I call the first act is is
Buttermaker meeting the team Buttermaker having some practices butterm seeing
that they stink And that kind of all leads up to that very first game What
happens in the the very first game they play is in the first act And what happens They get pounded 26 to nothing
And that's only because Buttermaker called the forfeited the game was I don't know fifth or six fourth fifth
inning or something I don't know what inning it was but yeah they were getting pounded 26 to nothing was the final They
were so bad at what they were doing that buttermaker forfeits in the
middle of the game I think it's 26 to nothing in the top of the first I don't think they even bat Oh okay And I think
he goes out there and says this is it I I'm not sure but I thought that's what happened And the other guy is coach
Turner Vic Morrow who is already arrogant and he he says several derogatory things towards Buttermaker
and the team before during and after that game Remember just all kinds of
stuff He didn't want to he wanted the game to keep going because apparently they were and he said in 15 more minutes
the game's going to be over So I guess that they were about to approach their time limit and he was just enjoying this
just just beating the snot out of these kids and he didn't want to let buttermaker call He didn't want to call
the game right And so his son is a pitcher on the team You
you you kind of need to know that So that's kind of act one first 20 to 30
minutes in almost That's the setup So let me stop with that first act What we know is Buttermaker got hired He's
getting paid and his team absolutely sucks That's what you need to know So let me go back and let me fill in some
notes about getting that far through the movie Things that I wrote down as I watched it and you and I can comment on
these The first thing I wrote down is Butter Maker is drinking beer in the
equipment room in front of a no drinking sign That's the first thing I wrote down
Well well what gets even before that he pulls up to the ballpark in his convertible with the ice chest in the
back seat He has a beer in his hand and once he stops he reaches in the console
pulls out a little bottle of whiskey Jim Bean Jim Bean pours it in his Budweiser
which is what is in beer Pours it pours it all over the console makes a big mess So so there he is in open public There's
people around at this little baseball complex and he's pulling up with a beer in his hand topping it off with Jim Bean
That to me that's I don't know That's That's Isn't that a boiler maker Isn't that what a boiler maker is Yeah it is
Yes it is Right And so he also tries to light his cigarillo his swish or sweet
or whatever And who who shows up and hands him a light Uh it's it's Well if you really want you really want the
character's name or do you just go ahead and say his name It Kelly Leak lights it for him The
resident juvenile delinquent who's not on the team And somewhere in all the stuff I've already mentioned Kelly Leak
is uh clearly shown as the juvenile delinquent who rides the Harley-Davidson and he drives his bike out onto the
field But let me get back to the notes and we'll get to that Um also right off
the bat you notice that Big Morrow's wife is extremely nice to Buttermaker when she first meets him right And
that's literally the opening after he gets out of the car with his Boiler Maker drink and his cigarette lit he
meets her and she's extremely nice to him So right she she helps She points
him in the direction of the equipment room you were mentioning And so he goes to the equipment room and they get the absolute worst equipment possible The
lady's just shoving it into one of those military green canvas bags just like we all had in baseball And uh that's where
Buttermaker standing there clearly in front of the sign that says no drinking holding his Boiler Maker He meets the
team and let me go down the roster because you mentioned it and we might as well because there's a point to this So
Kelly Leak is the kid who hangs around the ballpark who you know he's not
fighting for any They keep trying to run off every time he's there They're okay you little punk I told you to leave
You're not supposed to hang out here and all this stuff So and and coach Turner from the Yankees is the one who mostly
hates him right And and the lady and the lady who runs the league I don't know if you noticed but when he lights
Buttermaker's cigarette Buttermaker says "Thanks mister." Like he doesn't even realize he's 12 years old Yeah
Okay So the team is made up mostly of these guys I'm going to mention Tanner who's the little blondheaded kid that
fights everybody That's what you need to know about him Kelly Leak is the motorcycle riding delinquent who's not
even on the team at this point in the movie Ahmad is the black kid who uh is
the Willy Willie Mays is his hero Hank Hank Aaron Hank Aaron I'm sorry I'm sorry Hank Aaron I'm looking at the note
that says Hank Aaron and I still screwed up My favorite other than Tanner is
Ingleberg the catcher In Engleberg is the classic
overweight kid with a bad attitude Uh Oglev is the bookworm who's
kind of a manager that that spouts off a lot of stats anytime any uh major
leaguers name comes up Even Buttermaker he knows Buttermaker's career stats and he know he keeps the books for the team
and way before analytics he charts the other team's tendencies from the bench
Yes To Toby Whitewood is the the lawyers kid who got on this team or got this
team started in the first place Uh Lupus who Buttermaker calls Lupus is the booger eating spaz as
Tanner calls him is like the smallest most frail looking kid on the team Okay And
he is the one who misfields everything they hit his way in right field in that
26 to nothing drubbing uh from the Yankees And then there's some other kids that those are the ones you really need
to know So he meets his kids
and I made a mark that 10 minutes into the movie Okay Tanner takes a swing at
Buttermaker Yes Out there by the car Yes Yeah Ingleberg throws a baseball through
Buttermaker's windshield and Tanner they all go out there and and he calls practice off and he insults them by
saying they don't even know to keep the ball in the park Tanner gets mad and takes a swing at Buttermaker right off
the bat And then he ends up trying to fight one of his teammates Yes After insult after insulting his teammates one
of them Yes Correct Yeah He uses some really bad words for his teammates So
that so that sets up Buttermaker and his team as it is in their 26 to nothing Uh
before before that very first game I thought it was funny that the the adults in the league they had their big season
kickoff at a fancy fancy restaurant called Pizza Hut Yes Yeah And did you
see how they were dressed Oh yeah They're like polyester leisure suits and sports coats Like they've gone to some
big fancy cocktail party for the But they're in a Pizza Hut Uh dude in the 70s that's what Pizza Hut required cuz
it had tablecloths and red reel glasses And did you see the decor in that thing man I mean they had the salad bar and
the I mean come on man Pizza Hut was fancy in the 70s That's right That's right And Yeah The the fancy beer
glasses everybody was drinking out of Yes The fact that Pizza Hut had beer and
Buttermaker's over there enjoying himself a beer you know That's funny Um another thing that I
noted is that Buttermaker almost every scene is drinking a different brand of
beer He is not committed to any one brand Yes he does have Budweiser but he also has Kors It looks like at one point
he has Miller He has Miller at one point And he has something I couldn't even identify in one scene It was just real
quick but I couldn't tell what it was I I don't know The apparently that was very much on purpose to show that he's
probably the kind of guy that only buys what's cheap or readily available without putting a ton of thought into it
other than being cheap and just getting his hands on something He He was definitely not a snob Uh he
had Schlitz in one scene That's what it was The other one he had a schlitz Yes
I had an uncle that drank schlitz You can spot that can from a mile
away Okay So let me just get us up to the opening um ceremony because that's
where the 26 to nothing took place on that day Um he found out in the meanwhile that lupus makes a good
martini for him remember they're at the pool cleaning it Yes He compliments Lupus on his martini making skills Thank
you Lupus And then somebody said "Lup." Yes And and just how funny is that that an 11-year-old made him such a great
martini I know Um Kelly Leak crashes the opening
ceremonies by doing donuts on his motorcycle crashing into the outfield wall and getting hauled off by the cops
Well speaking of the opening ceremonies how how I mean they have a marching band
Yeah And it's like people everywhere It's like a big to-do
It's a massive event There's a marching band Buttermaker shows up with a ice
bucket full of beer and he's holding a beer in the team photo that they take right before the game Yes
These are the kind of things I wrote down The heck with the baseball So yeah he's holding a beer in
the team photo Um so yeah they gave up their 20s something
runs and the whole point of this getting beat early on is
that to kick off u the second act when
things start picking up Buttermaker realizes pretty fast that his team is
terrible and he needs to make a couple of recruiting visits so to speak That
that's what really starts the the second act I made a note to mention that they
were practicing in blue jeans most of them which is typical in the 70s Yes it was I played in blue jeans at that age
Yeah A lot of leagues in the 70s you played in blue jeans and just had a jersey or a cap with it Um I mean I
didn't do that but I saw it I mean I definitely saw it Yes I mean I saw grown men playing softball in blue jeans back
in the day Yeah that's true Uh uh let's not for you talked about Buttermaker and
all the beer he drank different brands of beer he drank Let's let's not forget about the time that scene where he's
throwing batting practice with all the Miller cans out there on the on the pitchers mount He just passes out drunk
He's just hammered and he Yeah I wasn't sure if that was first act or second act after other things happen
but he absolutely gets hammered at practice and completely passes out on the mound remember they want to know if
he's dead and yes they think he died and and uh Tanner says no he's just drunk
Yeah We just got a great we have an ali coach or something like that Yeah He kicks his glove and throws his little
temper tantrum Yeah So I I looked it up and when that movie was shot was 55
years old Wow So um you figure a you figure a dude
well basically if you averaged our ages that's about what it would be So if uh
if you're out there pitching batting practice and and you get that drunk and pass out you've had a few beers You know
if you go Exactly If you go blackout pass out So
that that's my favorite that's one of my favorite visuals is him doing a face plant basically Yes Yeah
So all right So I made a note that he recruits the first recruit he has to
make he realizes is he needs a pitcher And so his first recruit is uh
Amanda Amanda and I think her last name is Woritzer Is that right I believe that's right Amanda Woritzer played by
the great Tatum O'Neal daughter of Ryan O'Neal And yes her name where is it Yeah Amanda
Worlitzer Kind of like the jukebox with an extra letter She's 11 years old And
Butter how is it that Buttermaker knows to go recruit her He was uh I I guess
dating maybe engaged to her mom when when she was I believe eight or nine And
and uh he taught her how to pitch at that age and taught her a curveball and
a knuckle ball And I think he he told the kids he taught her a screw ball too I believe Yeah I mean it sounds like he
had a fairly serious relationship with her mom and he became kind of a which one of the themes in the movie that I
kind of read and it never had occurred to me is actually the lack of parents who are at these games for these kids
And there's some but Amanda doesn't have any reference to a dad and Buttermaker
is kind of it And then when they broke it off she didn't even have Buttermaker So he taught her how to pitch So he goes
after her to be a pitcher and he finds her and what's she doing to make a living as an 11-year-old selling maps to
the stars I think what she's got her little dress on and she's selling maps to the stars on I think they said Sunset
Boulevard So she just I guess maps to the stars houses I guess Yeah And so right off the
bat he makes a great improvement because his previous picture was the the kid that wore glasses I think his name is
Rudy Rudy Stein Rudy Stein And so yeah he's he was horrible in the game against
the Yankees So he goes and gets Amanda And so Amanda is just mowing down her
teammates in practice So okay So even with her pitching there's no reference
to them really winning a game And so he decides he also needs a little offense
because Amanda just gives him an arm but they're not making they're not uh scoring any runs I think Yeah I think
they lost that next game It was one to nothing or something like that or something Yeah it wasn't because of her It was because they couldn't score right
So he has What gives him the idea to recruit who he recruits next though Uh
you remember what happened that made him made the light bulb go on I don't remember how the somebody hit a foul a
foul ball home run ball over the fence foul territory I think Engleberg Ingleberg got mad in practice and hit a
foul ball home run and leak It's just Angleberg caught Angleberg caught the throw Oh okay So I don't know who hit it
but somebody hit a foul ball home run Yeah And uh uh Kelly Lee caught it way behind the
outfield fence and threw it almost the home plate Yeah Threw on the fly pretty
much right And so nothing happens at the moment but at some point soon after that he needs
to go get Kelly Lee cuz he doesn't even know if he can hit I guess But remember the he asked the kids who that guy was
and the little Hispanic kid says Bandandito That's so Oandito is well all
the kids the uh Tanner I think said he's the best player in the in the area and
the kids knew who he was and one guy said he's mod said he was a lone shark
He lend him a nickel on Monday and said if he didn't have a dime by Friday he was going to kick his butt or something
like that Yeah big money nickel on a dime dude Kelly Leak is running that part of town dude He must be he must be
the godfather of that place So Buttermaker uh he needs a little bit of bait to go
after him So knowing Buttermaker what does he do to try to get Kelly Leak recruited I between him and Amanda they
agreed that Amanda would go try to talk him into it at at this little arcade Yeah He's in there playing air hockey
against grownup against men and and smoking and smoking them big Yeah Smoking Yes For a whopping $1 a game he
said What he what they play for A dollar a game Dude he's a stone cold hustler is what Kelly said Yes he was Yes he is And
yeah she goes in there and tries to talk him into playing And he says you know
basically can't really say what he said but your your type of baseball is you know right you know old farts was part
of the line that So anyhow yeah they make a little bet little wager right And
uh she lost She comes back out and Buttermaker's drinking in the car waiting on her And
not only did she not get him on the team she had to go on a date with him to the Rolling Stones concert which just made
Buttermaker freak out Right That's right He calls him a an excon or something
Yeah And Yeah Excon I don't remember what all said about They had wagered over that game of
air hockey and she had lost because she told Buttermaker she was good at it right Yes But by the way let's back up
for just a smidge How did he lure Amanda onto the team What did he have to do for her to get her to pitch Do you remember
that Oh yeah He offered to pay for ballet lessons and something else But
they were they were negotiating they were negotiating in the car as he
was driving her I guess to practice And she was saying you know 12 ballet lessons and he's saying nine They're $3
a piece The ballet lessons $3 a piece That was big money for him Yeah And then
she wanted designer French She wanted French jeans French jeans Okay Yes So
yeah that cost Butter Maker money basically And so that was the bait he used to get her So he gets her on the
team And now she's the bait basically to get Kelly Leak which right you know
backfires at first But um I made a note that Kelly Leak joins the team 50
minutes into the movie which it's only like a I want to say hour and a half movie That's about it It takes Kelly
Leak 50 minutes to join up with the Bears but he joined up He didn't join up with the Bears because of Amanda Well he
might have because she was on the team He wanted to flirt with her but he really joined the team because Coach
Turner made him mad all over again Right Didn't they try to run him off one more
I mean like the third time in the movie Yeah He was hanging out in the bleachers up there and Turner comes by and said
"You you know whatever named punk or whatever I told you you're not supposed to hang out here." Blah blah blah And he
actually manhandled him And that's another thing There was a lot of manhandling of kids you know grabbing
them by the arms and shaking them and stuff Anyhow but yeah he uh he he ran
him off then Turner did ran Kelly Leak off and then right when he showed up
with the team Amanda asked him what he was doing there and he said some a-hole
changed my mind or something like that So he was talking about Turner Yep And the scene that he shows up is at
the end of the scene where he told them all they had to wear cups and they all refused because Amanda refused which I
thought was pretty funny And then Kelly Leak shows up It's 50 minutes into the movie Turner's made him so mad he
decides to play Um they win their first game because Kelly's hitting and she's
pitching Their second game they win due to forfeit Yes They get out there and they line up for the national anthem and
they find out the other team was going to play with eight players and the commissioner lady says "No you can't even." Which I don't know why they
didn't let them just do that but they didn't So they won by forfeit And I
think he uh they they were celebrating hard after that Two in a row Then comes the
obligatory montage that all good movies have Whether you're training like Rocky
running through the streets or doing you know sit-ups in the barn in Siberia you got to have a montage in a sports movie
And so then we have the the montage of the team bits and pieces of them
actually winning games And basically Kelly Leak's launching the ball out of the park and no one can hit her Amanda
And so they go on a winning streak and there's a couple of little quick scenes of them moving this their little badge
on the standings chart right The commissioner ladies just moving it up the chart and they're chasing the
Yankees So you you get that montage and in the I thought was hilarious in the
middle of that montage there's a dude running the bases and Tanner trips him Yes Yes Yeah I think that was in the
game that you know it shows Amanda being sick you know she's wrapped up with I
think has a thermometer in her mouth and and Buttermaker's trying to tend to her and that Rudy Rudy kid is pitching
They're just beating you know hammering him again And I think it was during that game that Tanner tripped that kid
running from second to third We need to go back a minute on Tanner because one of the the best things about the movie
is him and his you know Tanner's a team player He's that he's that dude that gets dirty in every game and you need
one of them or two right on your team But I'd be remiss if I didn't mention we
got to go back and say that after they got humiliated by the Yankees Tanner went to school the next week or whatever
and fought the entire seventh grade supposedly You know that was the story that they picked on him about and he
fought everybody Yeah And yeah watermaker says the entire seventh grade
And somebody said yes the entire seventh grade with very little writing And you
you didn't even see it happen You just hear about that and that tells you kind of all you need to know about Tanner So
Tanner's a little runt too He's by far the smallest other than Lupus He's probably the smallest kid on the team
but the toughest and or at least thinks he's the toughest Definitely the toughest Okay so they're going through
their montage and at some point it looks like they're going to have a final a
next to last game that's for a trip to the championship And the team comes to
Amanda's ballet lesson to tell her and they bring a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken and she's in there doing ballet
with grown women And the funny thing about there's two funny things about that Well three
The chicken In Engleberg's got the chicken I think Right Kelly Leak hits on
a 30-year-old woman it looks like Tells her he's batting 800 and and and that he
drives a Harley Yes And she and is she into that Yeah And then the third thing is
that Tanner tells the ballet teacher she tries to run him out or something and he asked her how long she's been teaching
it or how long something I don't he she run she tries to run him off and says "Get out of here I'm trying to teach a
class and he's like "Well you're not worth a crud cuz none of these ladies can dance worth a flip or however you
say." He said he said that something to the effect of rat turds there this this
class class is as crummy as rat turds or something like that Um so they have a
must-win game against the A's coming up and this is important too Buttermaker
has turned Buttermaker went from I don't care and then Amanda starts pitching and
Kelly starts hitting and they start winning And now they've got one game to
beat the A's to get into the championship with the Yankees And before that game Buttermaker makes a turn in
his own head that that we have to talk about He tells Kelly "Hey every ball in
the outfield go get it You need Kelly playing center field Kelly plays center field and he's fast And Rudy plays like
right field and Ahmad play or Rudy plays left field and Ahmad plays right field
right And Buttermaker tells him to go catch everything and he does He catches he he cuts his own teammates off
multiple times catching balls and it's working and they end up having some
discussions about it You know you can see the players getting mad making comments and all that
Um later in the game Kelly actually feels bad about it and he lets one of
them try to field the ball on his own and the kid drops it I think it was Rudy wasn't it It was Rudy Yes
And so they almost lose the game because of Kelly turning benevolent all of a
sudden And what does Buttermaker do Chews him out Yeah Big time Yeah It was
a key moment in the in the story that Buttermaker now has become kind of like coach Turner He's wanting to win more or
less at I don't want to say at all cost but he's kind of doing some something slightly shady to make sure they win And
um the players picked up on it immediately when they all get in the dugout They're all giving Kelly Leak the
side eye All of them Right They go back out there Actually he chews Kelly out
Tells him when I tell you to do something you do it And all that And then Kelly goes back out there to bat to
try to win it for him And what does he do Takes two two pitches right down the middle Takes two pitches right down the
gut I think after the first one Buttermaker you know goes and talks to him And then he takes another one anyway
And they goes and talks to him again and just tells him get off the field You know tells Buttermaker just get off the
field And then he hits a ground rule double I think the next swing and wins the game for him Right What's
interesting about that Buttermaker has a blow up with Kelly Kelly has a blow up with
the entire team Tanner Tanner sniffs out this whole catch all the balls thing Even though they I'm saying even though
they won they're all mad Well Kelly you know Kelly ran behind and and took a
popup away from Tanner during all that Kind of right behind second base position Yeah Yeah and and Buttermaker
says some really So now we're kicking off what I call the final act It's the last 15 minutes where all that's left to
do is have this game but they ramp up this tension because Buttermaker says some really crappy things to Amanda Even
though they've won and they're going to play in the championship he says some really cruel stuff because she's trying
to fix his mom her mom back up with butter maker and they just have this real casual conversation where she says
"Hey I got us a dinner for and he thinks she means the team." He finds out it's her mom and he loses it on her kind of
he just get tells her that basically I'm not your dad and you know I that there's
a reason I haven't looked for you in a couple of years Just some really cruel stuff to tell an 11-year-old girl Really
hateful Really really hateful Really hateful And of course cuz she course she's starting to like him again you know as a I guess looking at him as that
father figure And it kind of breaks her heart really what he says And of course
he's probably drunk right He's probably drunk So that's part of it That's part
of it But he's also had the He's also actually mad at himself I think I mean
yeah he blew up on uh Kelly Leak but I think he's mad at himself for blowing up
on Kelly Leak and he takes it out on Amanda That's just the way I kind of interpreted it But he's also drunk
Um so the team they kind of get in a shoving match with Kelly before the next
the next game is the championship And while they're out there warming up nobody will play pitch with Kelly And
when he asks him what's going on they end up in a shoving match with him And Buttermaker has to come break it up You
remember that Yes Yes And Buttermaker did took the blame upon himself He he
said it was on him that Kelly did all that took you know took every fly ball and stuff because he was wanting to win
and it I think that kind of upset the players too because he didn't trust them anymore right And I
think once they kind of started trying to fight and he broke it up and told him I told Kelly to do it it sort of calmed
things down a little bit in time to play their championship games Okay everyone We're going to stop uh episode 24 right
at that point where the Bears are playing in the championship game and
we're going to come back in a couple of weeks with episode 25 where we finish up the
uh story of the Bad News Bears and we're going to have our trivia and all those kinds of things So we'll be back in a
couple of weeks We appreciate you listening and as always please like and subscribe if you enjoy what we do here
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