IL1 Columbus Clippers

Clippers in the Movies

Published on January 26, 2007 under International League (IL1)
Columbus Clippers News Release


Did you know that there have been a number of Columbus baseball players in the movies?

America's first sports superstar and arguably its first media superstar was the handsome Mike "King" Kelly (Columbus Buckeyes, 1877). The Hall of Fame catcher/outfielder supplemented his baseball income with many stage appearances, which included the play, Kelly At The Bat.

Slide, Kelly, Slide, the first popular song ever released for the newly invented phonograph, was written about the dashing Kelly. It was America's first hit single. The song was turned into a movie by the same name in 1927 starring major league players Bob Meusel, Irish Meusel and Tony Lazzeri.

Hall of Fame pitcher Rube Waddell (Columbus Senators, 1899) starred in the play Stain of Guilt.

The first Columbus player to appear in a movie was Hall of Fame outfielder Wahoo Sam Crawford in 1927. Sam had been a teammate of Waddell's with the 1899 Columbus Senators.

The 1939 Columbus Red Birds outfielder Ernie Orsatti was Buster Keaton's stunt coordinator in the 1920s.

Orsatti's son Ernie carried on the family show business career (his mother was opera singer Inez Gomez) as a stunt man in the Planet of the Apes, Rosemary's Baby, The Poseidon Adventure, The Longest Yard and Con Air. He was Arnold Schwarzenegger's stunt double in "The Terminator" and Burt Reynolds' double for nine years.

Orsatti was the stunt coordinator for Serpico and Highlander II. On TV, he worked on shows including The Streets of San Francisco, Mod Squad and Starsky & Hutch. After doing stunts for The Magician, he continued working with Bill Bixby as stunt coordinator and Bixby's stunt double on The Incredible Hulk. He also directed several episodes of the show, and was second unit director on Sherlock Holmes Returns.

Retired Franklin County sheriff and former Columbus Red Bird and major league pitcher John Romonosky was one of many St. Louis Cardinals and Red Birds that appeared in STRATEGIC Air Command starring Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson during spring training in 1954.

The first Clipper to appear on the big screen was Phil Lombardi in the 1991 movie TALENT FOR THE GAME.

In 1999 Clippers Dave Eiland, Donzell McDonald, Scott Pose, Chris Ashby, Billy Masse, Mike Buddie and Ricky Ledee appeared in Kevin Costner's FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME.

That same year, the movie A LITTLE INSIDE was shot at The Coop. The movie featured Hallie Kate Eisenberg and Benjamin King. You can pick out many of the Clippers front office and many of our fans throughout the movie.

The last former Clippers player to appear in a movie was Derek Jeter, who appeared with Roger Clemens in ANGER MANAGEMENT in 2003.

If you can think of any I missed, let me know at Winterfest on February 1 at the Arena Grand Theatre.

Stay warm this weekend!

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International League Stories from January 26, 2007


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