Rick Dempsey To Make A Baseball Movie We Really Want To See

Columbia Pictures put Moneyball in turnaround, but former Orioles goofball Rick Dempsey has just sold them a script that sounds infinitely more entertaining than sweaty stat geeks. It's the true story of Dempsey's little league coach....who also robbed banks.

It's an amusing caper tale that's fun for the whole family! When Dempsey was 14 years old, he played for an All-Star baseball team that made its way to the Pony League World Series. During the same summer that he was leading his charges on an improbable post season run, their coach, John Jennings, robbed 13 Los Angeles-area banks with the help of a partner. No one suspected a thing, even though his third baseman was the son of an LAPD detective.

Eventually, the FBI caught up to them and Jennings spent 10 years in prison. Six players from that team, including Dempsey, signed professional contracts. One was Robin Yount's brother Larry, who appeared in one game as a pitcher for the Houston Astros, but hurt his arm warming up and never got to throw a major league pitch. (Hardest hard luck story ever.)

Dempsey has been trying to option the idea for years, and finally got Happy Madison (Adam Sandler's company) to bite. The story sounds like a golden (and hilarious) premise for a summer comedy—but since it is not based on a comic book or an old TV show it will probably never get produced.

Happy Madison plays ball [Variety] Rick Dempsey & The Bank Robbers [Baltimore Sun, via NetShrine]