The reviews are unanimous in their approval, and the praise settles in the same places. Most critics single out Shelton’s script first: the dialogue is quotable and offbeat, and the film is credited with treating the passions and small rituals of minor-league life rather than the game itself. Several note that Shelton’s own years in the minors give the clubhouse and the characters an authenticity most sports films lack. Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins are named again and again, Costner’s veteran catcher most often, and the romance is generally held to matter more than the baseball.
The reservations are few and the spread is narrow. Variety, one of the two coolest notices, finds the locker-room talk overdone and Susan Sarandon unconvincing, which puts it alone against the rest. The Los Angeles Times thinks some touches read as writerly conceits, and The New York Times notes some unevenness in the direction. Nobody thinks the film fails.