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A movie featuring 2 Red Sox legends hits theaters for a limited time starting this weekend
"Eephus" features appearances by former Red Sox pitcher Bill "Spaceman" Lee and longtime Red Sox announcer Joe Castiglione.
In baseball, an eephus pitch is the ultimate fake-out. Thrown incredibly slowly, typically with a high, floating arc, its success is largely predicated on a batter being too surprised to swing.
The pitch is the perfect namesake for Carson Lund’s movie “Eephus,” a sports movie that features none of the high-stakes drama or fast-paced action typical of the genre. Instead, it’s a story of life that unfolds deliberately over the course of a Sunday beer league baseball game in Massachusetts — the last one before the diamond is bulldozed to make way for a new school.
Lund, who previously worked at the Harvard Film Archive, enlisted two Red Sox luminaries that perfectly encapsulate the themes of “Eephus” for his directorial debut: Former pitcher Bill “Spaceman” Lee, who threw the occasional eephus and continued to play professional baseball (albeit in lower leagues) into his 60s, and longtime Red Sox radio announcer Joe Castiglione, who is still calling spring training games despite officially retiring after 42 years in 2024.
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Lund and Lee will be at the Somerville Theatre on Saturday, March 15 for a screening of “Eephus” and a post-film Q&A moderated by WBUR film critic Sean Burns, who wrote a glowing review of the film following its debut at IFF Boston’s Fall Focus Festival in November 2024.
“Eephus” is a small, independent film, one that won’t be released nationwide and won’t be shown at movie theater chains, even in Boston.
So far, it is scheduled to play through at least next Thursday at the Somerville Theatre, the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, and the Dedham Community Theatre.
The film’s website even features a form that allows you to arrange a screening for your own venue. To paraphrase another beloved baseball film, if you book it, they will come.
About a year ago, a reader named Henry left a voicemail on one of the Boston Globe landlines seeking to post a notice for a Sunday baseball league. (It was ultimately forwarded to me, as the long-time author of Boston.com’s Things To Do column.)
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The voicemail began with relevant information about the time and location of the program. But in a lengthy digression, Henry lamented how three baseball fields had recently been torn down to make way for buildings, walking paths and skate parks.
“They took out home plate, the pitcher’s mound, the bases,” he said. “Everything to do with baseball disappeared. Where people used to play baseball, now they ride their bikes.”
I hope Henry finds time to go see “Eephus” before it’s gone. You should, too.
“Eephus” (plus Q&A with director Carson Lund and former Red Sox pitcher Bill “Spaceman” Lee): Saturday, March 15 at 7:30 p.m.; Somerville Theatre; $10-16; somervilletheatre.com
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