The Natural

The Natural (1984)

6 corrected entries

(9 votes)

Corrected entry: In the beginning of the movie, Babe Ruth is batting righty. In reality, Bambino was a lefty hitter and never batted righty.

Correction: He was a fictional character they called "The Whammer" that was intended to be a Babe Ruth type character, but it was never established that he was actually Babe Ruth.

Zwn Annwn

Corrected entry: Same game....they show John Olson, the catcher, batting left-handed when he bats right-handed the rest of the movie - and he isn't a switch-hitter.

Correction: Nowhere does it mention whether or not the catcher is a switch hitter. The scene is not reversed because the lettering is all correctly visible. Just because he batted right handed the rest of the movie doesn't mean he can't bat left handed against a right handed pitcher.

Zwn Annwn

Corrected entry: During Roy Hobb's final at-bat in the pennant game, the blood spots on his uniform change with each shot. In some shots there are 3 distinct blood stains, in others there are 2.

Correction: The blood spots in question only do one thing: they get bigger and more numerous, which is the natural and expected result of bleeding.

Corrected entry: In Roy's last at bat, the starting pitcher throws two pitches from the wind-up before being replaced by his manager. But with runners on first and third, and his team leading by two runs, he should have been pitching from the stretch position to check on the runners.

Correction: The views of the starting pitcher do not establish whether the pitcher is pitching from a wind-up or from the stretch because of the timing of the cuts to the pitcher. He is in mid-motion in each of the three shots, and in one it appears to be most likely a stretch motion while in the other two it is not possible to say for sure.

Corrected entry: In the scene where Roy Hobbs breaks his bat ("Wonder Boy") upon hitting a foul ball, the bat is obviously intact as he completes his swing. Only when they cut back after the ball has gone foul is the bat splintered in two.

Correction: Because of the close proximity of the bat and the splintered piece on the ground, the most likely type of break to produce that result would be a partially shattered bat that fell apart when it hit the ground. If the bat were to have broken during the swing, the two parts would not have landed next to each other as depicted.

Corrected entry: In the scene in the Judge's office before the final game, Hobbes says he'll hit away, i.e. to left field, to compensate for his injury. However, he subsequently wins the game by homering into the lights overlooking right field.

Correction: The term "hit away" means that he is going to take his swings, or "hacks" at the ball. It doesn't mean to hit to the opposite field in this instance.

Continuity mistake: When he hits the ball off the clock, everyone leaves the park after his home run. Why should they? Roy Hobbs' team is the visiting team, so the Chicago Cubs still have their turn at bat in the bottom of the ninth.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: They were playing at Knight's Field in New York. Plus the scoreboard has them batting last.

He's talking about the first game in Chicago when Iris stood up.

Suggested correction: Not everyone starts to leave, it's just a few guys sitting next to Iris that start to leave their seats. And all the photographers and reporters are crowding around Hobbs not because New York won, but because he hit such a big home run. Then the scene ends and cuts to the locker room to save time since we don't need to see the Cubs last at bat.

Bishop73

Suggested correction: It starts to rain when he hits the cover off the ball. So everyone is leaving because of the rain.

This is the wrong scene, you're describing the scene where Hobbs hits the cover off the ball in the 7th, and they're not even playing Chicago.

Bishop73

More mistakes in The Natural

Ed Hobbs: You've got a gift Roy... but it's not enough - you've got to develop yourself. If you rely too much on your own gift... then... you'll fail.

More quotes from The Natural

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.