The Natural (1984) review

Up-and-coming baseball player Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford), who made his own bat as a child (that he nicknamed "Wonderboy"), has his career derailed early on after a deranged woman named Harriet Bird (Barbara Hershey) shoots him in a hotel room - sixteen years pass, and he manages to get a contract with the New York Knights, but coach "Pop" Fisher (Wilford Brimley) questions his talent (he refers to him as a "middle-aged rookie") ... that is, until he starts hitting dingers and proves to be a capable right fielder.  It's based on Bernard Malamud's first novel, which was supposedly inspired by the true story of Eddie Waitkus (and possibly Chicago Cub Billy Jurges), but Levinson (working off a script by Roger Towne and Phil Dusenberry) turns it into this misty-eyed fantasy, with sultry Memo Paris (Kim Basinger) acting as "bad luck," Roy's old girlfriend Iris Gaines (Glenn Close) being "good luck," and Roy himself as some mystical (and incorruptible) figure who represents "the love of the game" (his strength is so remarkable he can break a clock, a window, stadium lights and shatter the ball).  Granted one can look past the almost supernatural elements, it's a semi-decent (and intentionally "uplifting") sports movie (Redford must have had expert training) with a justifiably famous score by Randy Newman - of course, this was also released when people still considered the sport "America's Pastime"....