With baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates in last place, their combative, foul-mouthed manager Guffy McGovern is upset. His abusive language toward players is publicized by local newspaper reporter Jennifer Paige, who disdains his management style.
While wandering through Forbes Field in search of his good-luck charm one night, Guffy hears the voice of an angel who was a baseball player during his mortal life. The angel represents the Heavenly Choir Nine, an angelic team of dead ballplayers, and he begins bestowing miracles upon the Pirates, but only if Guffy will stop swearing and fighting. Guffy acquiesces and, with the help of the invisible ghosts of past baseball greats, the Pirates are involved in the pennant race.
During a game, eight-year-old orphan Bridget White insists that she can see the angels helping the players. Bridget's prayers to the archangel Gabriel had prompted the baseball angel to visit Guffy. Jennifer inadvertently transforms Bridget's angelic visions into a nationwide news story, causing McGovern aggravation.
After a line drive strikes him in the head during a game, Guffy deliriously confirms Bridget's claims to the press. He falls into the hands of vengeful sportscaster Fred Bayles, who has been scheming to have Guffy banned from baseball and persuades the commissioner to investigate Guffy's fitness to lead the team.
During the pennant-deciding game, Guffy is forced to rely exclusively upon the talents of his ballplayers with no help from the angels. The angel declares that Guffy's aging pitcher Saul Hellman will soon die and join the Heavenly Choir team. Guffy wins Jennifer's love, and they plan to adopt Bridget.
The film also contains short cameos of men appearing as themselves to comment on the angels, including Bing Crosby (a minority owner of the Pirates), retired baseball Hall of FamerTy Cobb, active player Joe DiMaggio and Hollywood songwriter Harry Ruby.
Location filming in Pittsburgh occurred in the spring of 1951, with many baseball action shots filmed at Forbes Field,[9] the former home of the Pittsburgh Pirates that was demolished in 1971. Several distinguishing features of the park visible in the film include the "Kiner's Korner" inner fence in left field, with the 365-feet left-field foul line marker observable on the outer wall, and the 335-feet sign on the inner fence. The other distance markers (376, 457, 436, 375 and 300) are visible in some scenes. Also visible are the flagpole and batting cage near the 457-foot marker in deep left-center field and the Barney Dreyfuss monument in straightaway centerfield. The University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning is prominent in many of the shots.
Some scenes were shot on location at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles. Although its ivy-covered outfield wall resembled that of Forbes Field, "Kiner's Korner" is conspicuous in its absence, and visible distance markers (412 feet in centerfield, 345 feet in left) are inconsistent with Forbes Field's larger dimensions. Stock footage from Comiskey Park in Chicago is also present in the film.
Although he had no background in baseball, Bruce Bennett, who portrays a veteran pitcher, had played football in the 1926 Rose Bowl and won a silver medal in the shot put at the 1928 Summer Olympics. Jeff Richards, who appears as Rothberg, had been a minor-league baseball player before becoming an actor. Fred Graham, who plays Chunk, had been a semi-pro player. Paul Salata, who portrays Tony Minelli, played professional football from 1949 to 1953.
As the Hays Code prohibited profanity in films at the time, Guffy's foul language is audio gibberish that was created by scrambling recordings of Douglas's voice.
Release
The film's world premiere was held with two showings at Pittsburgh's Loew's Penn Theatre on September 7, 1951. Author Richard F. Grady, star Paul Douglas and director Clarence Brown appeared on the stage and the entire Pirates team joined them for the afternoon premiere only, as they played the St. Louis Cardinals in the evening at Forbes Field.[10]
Grady, Douglas and Brown presented Pirates manager Billy Meyer with the film's original manuscript during a ceremony preceding a Pirates-Reds game at Forbes Field on September 6.[11] Although the Pirates play for the National League pennant in the film, on the date of the world premiere, the real team was in seventh place with a record of 57–79, 30.5 games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers.[12]
The film was retitled Angels and the Pirates for its 1952 release in the United Kingdom, where audiences were largely unfamiliar with baseball and would not have understood the original title.[13]
Reception
In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic A. H. Weiler wrote: "[L]et it be said that this combination of whimsy, sports, religious faith and romance is a heart-warming and edifying amalgam which can pass the test of what is traditionally termed entertainment. ... 'Angels in the Outfield,' in short, is slight, completely unconvincing but thoroughly delightful."[14]
The day after the film's Pittsburgh premiere, Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph reviewer Karl Krug wrote: "Just put down 'Angels in the Outfield' as the most delightful cinematic experience in its field since 'Miracle on 34th Street,' and you will have the situation very well in hand. ... Faith and tolerance are the keynotes of Mr. Brown's wizardry with the 'Angels in the Outfield' script, which, under less sympathetic treatment, might have become very boring, indeed. You can't bring heavenly visitors to earth to help a losing baseball team win a pennant with anything less than the most delicate guidance and a grand sense of humor. ... However, baseball is simply a sounding board for this charming story, which snuggles into your heart and stays there on a tempo of human interest and a romance as refreshingly casual as it is irresistible."[2]
On review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an 83% approval rating based on six reviews, with an average rating of 7/10.[15]
Box office
According to MGM records, the film returned receipts of $1,466,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $200,000 elsewhere but recorded a net loss of $171,000.[1]
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