Robert Wuhl baseball movies, Things looked good for actor Robert Wuhl on the last day of Major League Baseball's 1989 season, his first playing fantasy baseball. He was in first place, led by a pitching staff that included Kansas City's Bret Saberhagen and San Diego's Mark Davis, both of whom would win Cy Young Awards that year, as well as Atlanta's Greg Maddux.
Then the rain started. Several games were called off, resulting in an idle day for 10 of Wuhl's players. "Horrible," he says. "Horrible. I lost ground in every category. This was in the days you figured all this out by hand, there were no computers to make changes."
He finished second.
Undeterred, Wuhl has continued to play fantasy baseball each year since. And this season he's even more committed to fantasy baseball. He recently began co-hosting "Off the Wuhl," a SiriusXM radio show about fantasy baseball that he co-hosts with Casey Stern at 8 p.m. on Wednesday nights. Wuhl seems an inspired choice for the role: He's garrulous and knows the game. As actors go, Wuhl is also identified with sports thanks to prominent roles in films and TV shows such as "Bull Durham" (which turns 25 this year), "Cobb" and "Arli$$."
And the popularity of fantasy sports continues to increase. The Fantasy Sports Trade Association estimates 32 million Americans play in some sort of fantasy league, with nearly 12 million playing baseball. At an average of nearly $500 spent per player, fantasy sports has become a sizable financial entity.
Which in part explains Wuhl's new venture.
A New Jersey native, Wuhl says he "learned to love baseball in Houston," where he moved to study drama at the University of Houston. (Last month, Wuhl was back in town to co-direct his first play, "Hit-Lit," at U of H.)
"I always loved playing the game," he says, "but I really got into it in college. That's when I got into the game within the game."
For awhile Wuhl sold beer at the Astrodome and recalls a promotion that promised nickel beer if an Astros player hit a home run in an even minute.Usually, if you're a concessionaire, you hate those promotions, but the Dome was so big and the Astros didn't really hit, so there wasn't much to worry about," he says.
The Astros aren't likely to intersect with Wuhl's fantasy team in 2013. "Tough time in Houston," he says. "How many do you think they're going to win?" He pauses and answers his own question. "Not many. It's gonna be hard. (José) Altuve steals bases, but outside of that, I don't know if there's anybody worth drafting."
As for the show, Wuhl says it's likely to evolve over the season. There's likely to be a pop-culture element included in the show, as evidenced by a recent guest spot by actor Jeff Garlin ("Curb Your Enthusiasm"), who's in a fantasy league with Wuhl. "Some part of it will be like what we did with 'Arli$$,'" Wuhl says. "This idea of characters in sports. Characters in their world. This isn't really a show where we give you the minutia. I'm not that kind of expert."
Still, he points out that the Atlanta Braves added strike-out-prone sluggers and lost guys who get on base, which suggests at least a passing knowledge of some of the game's metrics - more recently championed in the book and film "Moneyball."
Asked about the common fantasy practice of drafting players from a detested team, Wuhl doesn't bite.
"I've never had those big hatreds for teams," he says. "Usually those teams are hated because they win a lot, which is the sign of a good organization. It's a problem we have in society and sports, this polarization, which is really just a lack of respect. The fact that people throw back baseballs after a home run is beyond my comprehension. Baseball is one of the few sports that lets you take home the equipment. Will it take the run off the board if you throw it back? Take home a momento of the game you went to with your child instead. It's the same thing with politics. It's what's wrong with the country: We don't respect our opponents.
"And it started with a Cubs fan. What more do you need to know?"
Bull Durham turns 25
Twenty-five years have passed since the very quotable baseball film "Bull Durham" was released. Part romance, part comedy, Ron Shelton's film is usually placed near the top of the lists of best sports movies made. And on its bench are a pair of Houston connections.
Robert Wuhl, who studied drama at U of H, plays the motor-mouthed assistant coach Larry. Which means he's often paired in the film with the late native Trey Wilson, who brought grizzled fire and weariness to head coach Skip. Their "lollygaggers" exchange remains one of the film's comic highlights. Wilson, also familiar to "Raising Arizona" fans, made five movies after "Bull Durham" before he died suddenly in 1989 of an arterial vascular malformation. "We'd become friends during 'Bull Durham,'" Wuhl says, "but I didn't hear about his passing until I read it in the paper. I just fell over. He was a great actor and a great human being. I'll never forget him. He was one of the good guys."
Then the rain started. Several games were called off, resulting in an idle day for 10 of Wuhl's players. "Horrible," he says. "Horrible. I lost ground in every category. This was in the days you figured all this out by hand, there were no computers to make changes."
He finished second.
Undeterred, Wuhl has continued to play fantasy baseball each year since. And this season he's even more committed to fantasy baseball. He recently began co-hosting "Off the Wuhl," a SiriusXM radio show about fantasy baseball that he co-hosts with Casey Stern at 8 p.m. on Wednesday nights. Wuhl seems an inspired choice for the role: He's garrulous and knows the game. As actors go, Wuhl is also identified with sports thanks to prominent roles in films and TV shows such as "Bull Durham" (which turns 25 this year), "Cobb" and "Arli$$."
And the popularity of fantasy sports continues to increase. The Fantasy Sports Trade Association estimates 32 million Americans play in some sort of fantasy league, with nearly 12 million playing baseball. At an average of nearly $500 spent per player, fantasy sports has become a sizable financial entity.
Which in part explains Wuhl's new venture.
A New Jersey native, Wuhl says he "learned to love baseball in Houston," where he moved to study drama at the University of Houston. (Last month, Wuhl was back in town to co-direct his first play, "Hit-Lit," at U of H.)
"I always loved playing the game," he says, "but I really got into it in college. That's when I got into the game within the game."
For awhile Wuhl sold beer at the Astrodome and recalls a promotion that promised nickel beer if an Astros player hit a home run in an even minute.Usually, if you're a concessionaire, you hate those promotions, but the Dome was so big and the Astros didn't really hit, so there wasn't much to worry about," he says.
The Astros aren't likely to intersect with Wuhl's fantasy team in 2013. "Tough time in Houston," he says. "How many do you think they're going to win?" He pauses and answers his own question. "Not many. It's gonna be hard. (José) Altuve steals bases, but outside of that, I don't know if there's anybody worth drafting."
As for the show, Wuhl says it's likely to evolve over the season. There's likely to be a pop-culture element included in the show, as evidenced by a recent guest spot by actor Jeff Garlin ("Curb Your Enthusiasm"), who's in a fantasy league with Wuhl. "Some part of it will be like what we did with 'Arli$$,'" Wuhl says. "This idea of characters in sports. Characters in their world. This isn't really a show where we give you the minutia. I'm not that kind of expert."
Still, he points out that the Atlanta Braves added strike-out-prone sluggers and lost guys who get on base, which suggests at least a passing knowledge of some of the game's metrics - more recently championed in the book and film "Moneyball."
Asked about the common fantasy practice of drafting players from a detested team, Wuhl doesn't bite.
"I've never had those big hatreds for teams," he says. "Usually those teams are hated because they win a lot, which is the sign of a good organization. It's a problem we have in society and sports, this polarization, which is really just a lack of respect. The fact that people throw back baseballs after a home run is beyond my comprehension. Baseball is one of the few sports that lets you take home the equipment. Will it take the run off the board if you throw it back? Take home a momento of the game you went to with your child instead. It's the same thing with politics. It's what's wrong with the country: We don't respect our opponents.
"And it started with a Cubs fan. What more do you need to know?"
Bull Durham turns 25
Twenty-five years have passed since the very quotable baseball film "Bull Durham" was released. Part romance, part comedy, Ron Shelton's film is usually placed near the top of the lists of best sports movies made. And on its bench are a pair of Houston connections.
Robert Wuhl, who studied drama at U of H, plays the motor-mouthed assistant coach Larry. Which means he's often paired in the film with the late native Trey Wilson, who brought grizzled fire and weariness to head coach Skip. Their "lollygaggers" exchange remains one of the film's comic highlights. Wilson, also familiar to "Raising Arizona" fans, made five movies after "Bull Durham" before he died suddenly in 1989 of an arterial vascular malformation. "We'd become friends during 'Bull Durham,'" Wuhl says, "but I didn't hear about his passing until I read it in the paper. I just fell over. He was a great actor and a great human being. I'll never forget him. He was one of the good guys."
