Kevin Costner: Sports Movie GOAT

Every sport has its GOAT. Greatest of all time, for those just joining us from under their rock. Picking that greatest player ever for any sport is sure to cause a fiery debate. Friendships have been ruined and words have been said that can’t be taken back when the conversation arises. All because of something that typically comes down to some sort of bias or misguided opinion. The same names are usually said and argued over, such as Montana or Brady; Lebron or Jordan; Ruth or Mays or Aaron or… well honestly picking baseball could go on forever. But, you get the point.

Something that isn’t talked about enough is sports movies and the actors who consistently dominate that genre. So many classic movies are sport-related, especially when it comes to baseball, as I’ve pointed out before. And while many actors have played several different roles in multiple sports movies, one man sticks out above the rest. Kevin Costner is, without question, the sports movie GOAT.

Honorable Mentions

Sylvester Stallone- Obviously he has a stronghold on boxing movies, as Rocky is a cinematic icon. He also has delved into car racing, soccer, pro-wrestling (sorta) and my favorite, arm wrestling for custody of his son. He obviously is a legend in sports movies and his contributions to the genre cannot go unnoticed.

Burt Reynolds- The Longest Yard (the original) is one of the best football movies of all time. Cannonball Run is a classic. The Man From Left Field is… a movie. This is Burt Reynolds though, an icon in his own right. I’d even accept Smokey and the Bandit as a sports movie, since it’s technically a race. Since it’s for Coors Banquets, it’s even better.

Wesley Snipes- The original Willie Mays Hayes, he also took a turn as a knockoff Barry Bonds in The Fan. Not to mention White Men Can’t Jump and Undisputed. His film debut was even being coached in football by Goldie Hawn in Wildcats.

Paul Newman- While most people think of The Mighty Ducks when it comes to hockey films, real ones know Slap Shot is the best. There’s also his pool shark in The Hustler and The Color of Money. Most importantly, who could forget his role in Cars, as Doc Hudson. This is another screen legend who had his fair share of great sports roles.

Kevin Costner: Sports Movie GOAT

What has made Costner the GOAT is that he has been versatile in his roles. He’s been in movies about multiple sports, from baseball to cycling, track to golf, and even poker (hey it’s on ESPN, we’re counting it). While he’s been in so many sports movies, he’s doesn’t always need to play an athlete. No matter the role, he’s believable in it. That says more about him as an actor, as he can easily transition from a starting pitcher to a cowboy and then to a lawyer hunting JFKs killer. With his sports roles though, it just comes off as natural for him.

So while Costner is a great actor and his performances have always enhanced his roles, it’s also his actual athletic ability that has made him the GOAT. To be in his tier of sports movie stars, you need to be believable in the sport you’re playing on screen. So it’s not surprising to learn he played sports in high school and college. What most people wouldn’t guess is his favorite growing up was basketball. Odd, since he somehow has no basketball movies on his resume. Meanwhile, he has been able to not only convey his love for sports through his acting roles, but also with his narration of documentaries such as Fastball and The Hurt Business.

Costner Resonates with male audiences

His characters always relate with sports fans. The son just wanting a catch with his dad in Field of Dreams is the quintessential baseball fan summed up perfectly. Billy Chapel looking for one last moment of glory in For Love of the Game is every former athlete at one point in their lives. Refusing to lay up in Tin Cup and going for it, repeatedly, is every guy on a course after 12 cart beers and their undying belief that they have a shot to one day go pro. Never mind the 14 strokes they casually forgot to count on their score card.

Costner has the unique ability to play roles that guys idolize that don’t require saving POWs in Vietnam or taking out terrorists at Nakatomi Plaza. He stars in movies that most people can identify with, without having to suspend their disbelief. His roles in sports movies especially highlight this, as we have no trouble seeing ourselves in his characters, even as we crack open a 4th beer and chip crumbles pile up on our beer bellies.

So while others have done wonderful jobs in sports movies, Kevin Costner is without question the greatest of all time. Having been in so many classics, it’s necessary to rank his roles and movies. This listing isn’t about which movie is better, but rather about his character in it combined with the overall movie. The qualifications are simple, it’s either a sports movie or Costner plays an athlete. Please note, this is solely my opinion. But as an avid Costner fan, this is is about as close to fact as you’ll get.

Kevin Costner: Sport Movie GOAT roles ranking

11. Chasing Dreams– Ed (older brother)

OK so I won’t lie, I haven’t seen this. I want to, if just to satisfy my Costner fandom, but I can’t. It’s some obscure movie from 1982 (released in 1989) that until recently I didn’t even know existed. In one of his first roles, Costner plays the older brother of the main character, who apparently has a knack for baseball. That’s, at least, according to the Wikipedia summary. It’s so obscure that it’s not streaming on anything, but I was able to watch the trailer. It looks like a made-for-TV movie within a made-for-TV movie. It gets on this list by default, so I can’t speak to any actual aspects of the movie. Costner does have an early-era Justin Beiber haircut though, showing off his fashion chops.

10. The Upside of Anger– Denny Davies (retired baseball player)

This is the only movie on here that’s not a sports movie. I’m actually not even sure what genre it would fall into. It’s kinda a rom-com drama I guess, if anything. Costner plays a retired baseball player-turned-radio host in the movie. He’s the love interest of the main character and a big part of the film. He could’ve been a retired garbageman and the plot wouldn’t have changed. It’s more believable that he’s a former player, which speaks volumes of his sports movie GOAT status. Nobody second-guessed his character’s backstory, and had someone besides Costner been cast, that may not have been the case.

9. The Art of Racing in the Rain– Enzo (a dog)

Costner isn’t actually shown in the movie but rather voices the dog. Going back to what I said about Costner’s characters resonating with male audiences, playing a dog is probably second to an athlete in terms of tugging the male heartstrings. His owner is a Formula 1 racecar driver, and the sport features prominently in the movie. Costner’s dog is even named after Enzo Ferrari. Of course, being about a dog, the movie is a tear-jerker. One that most men won’t admit they had to try to think about happier things while watching to avoid waterworks.

8. Mollys Game– Larry Bloom (overbearing father, psychologist)

Once again playing a character that most men can closely relate to, Costner is an overbearing father who pushes his daughter too hard at sports. The movie is based off a true story that involves people like Leonardo Dicaprio and Tobey Maguire playing high stakes underground poker games. The poker aspect coupled with the overly aggressive sports dad that is Costner’s character make this a sports movie. And while his screen time was limited, he did have some great scenes. His conversation with his daughter in New York was particularly memorable. If anything it’s another example of his great acting skills.

7. McFarland USA– Jim White (Track coach)

Another based on a true story movie, Costner plays a former high school football coach who loses his job. He then moves his family to the non-gentrified McFarland, California where he learns that, while not great football players, Latinos sure know how to run. The creation of a cross-country team ensues and his character white knights them to a state championship. It’s a pretty formulaic sports movie, think Hardball or Mighty Ducks, but Costner’s presence makes it a worthy watch.

6. American Flyers– Marcus Sommers (Sports physician, cyclist)

This is another older movie that came before Costner’s fame really took off. There’s some career foreshadowing, as he rocks a cowboy hat often. He plays a sports physician who comes from a family that is known for their cycle racing abilities. He’s able to coax his brother into competing in a large tournament and has some inspiring monologues. It hits all the necessary inspirational sports movie bullet points, and Costner even brandishes a mustache. It’s a lesser known Costner movie that deserves more praise. His encouragement for his brother to finish a bike race on foot alone is worth the watch.

5. Draft Day– Sonny Weaver Jr. (Cleveland Browns GM)

Costner had already placed himself in sports movie lore by the time this one came out. With nothing left to prove, he gave us one of the best football movies ever, which barely shows football. To this day, people still quote this when the NFL draft comes around. We wonder every year who’s going to be this draft’s Bo Callahan. While fans anxiously await their team’s picks, they wonder if the player they choose had any of their teammates show up to their birthday parties.

Costner plays the GM of the Cleveland Browns, who is facing pressure from the team owner, his love interest, his mother and the head coach on draft day. Please note those are all different people. Also, all this while having to work in the shadow of his father’s legacy. It’s a movie that wouldn’t have been made in the 90s but works now as the NFL Draft has become a huge event every year. The movie takes the event and lets us in on the anxiety that plagues modern-day NFL GMs. You find yourself cheering for him as he somehow pulls off last-minute wheeling and dealing that real GMs probably dream about at night.

4. Field of Dreams– Ray Kinsella (Farmer)

Most people consider this to be the most iconic baseball movie ever. And some don’t even consider it a baseball movie. Those in the latter category are dead wrong (and kinda stupid). This can arguably be considered the greatest baseball movie ever made.

It has it’s place in cinematic history. “If you build it, he will come.” will forever be one of the greatest lines of all time. Watching Costner frantically try to figure out what that whisper means while destroying his entire livelihood to build a baseball field will forever be special. James Earl Jones speech about how “the people will come” holds it’s own place in baseball mythos. The movie truly is one of the greatest baseball movies ever made. MLB has started having games at the site of the movie due to it’s significance, the first of which Costner himself emerged from the corn fields for.

Those of us who grew up loving baseball hold this movie close to our hearts. Fathers and sons and the bond they share over baseball has never been so perfectly encapsulated as it was in this movie. Costner asking his dad if he wanted to have a catch at the end is one of those movie moments (that don’t involve a dying dog) where men need to hide their watering eyes. This movie is a love letter to baseball and all that it stands for, and it’s why it’s held up and so highly regarded all these years later.

This list isn’t based solely on the movie though, and that’s why it’s not number one. While it’s definitely one of the best ever made, it doesn’t fully show Costner’s sport movie GOAT ability. However his performance, and the movie itself, will forever be linked to baseball and the magnitude of it’s place in any sports fans life.

3. Tin Cup– Roy McAvoy (golfer)

I believe that golf movies are second to baseball. Caddyshack or Happy Gilmore can be argued as the best, but I’d put this one right up there as well. Again, it’s thanks to Costner’s ability to be the regular everyman who guys see themselves in. He plays a former golf prodigy who spends his days drinking beer with his best friend on the driving range. That pretty much sums up the American dream for most men.

There’s two scenes that stand out: the final one where his character refuses to lay up and instead keeps hitting his ball into the water, before finally sinking it with the last ball in his bag. While he loses the tournament because of his stubbornness, it’s his perseverance that really matters.

The second is when he gets angry and breaks every club in his bag, except his trusty 7-iron. He laments how he never misses with it, and every player out there can relate as there’s always one club you’re most comfortable with. He then proceeds to play the entire round with that club. This scene is so great that there’s now a yearly “Tin Cup Open” where players only use their 7-iron. I’ll admit I’ve always wanted to try this, I honestly couldn’t get much worse anyway.

2. For Love of the Game– Billy Chapel (MLB pitcher)

I don’t understand the mixed feelings for this movie, as I think it’s actually one of the best baseball movies of all time. While it does rely heavily on the flashbacks, the actual baseball action shown gives us some of the most accurate ever in a movie. We see Costner as the aging pitcher, unsure of his future, going out one more time to play the game he spent his whole life playing. This is one where we really see his athletic ability, as it’s clear he knows how to throw a baseball and isn’t just mimicking it for the cameras. He looks like he belongs on the mound in this one.

The movie does mix romantic drama with baseball, but most sports movies out there have an underlying story that is juxtaposed with the sport. That’s the point of movies, to tell a story. If there was no love story unfolding while Billy Chapel is pitching, it would just be us watching a 9 inning baseball game. As great as that would be, it’s not a movie.

You find yourself cheering for Chapel, both on the field and in his personal life. Costner brilliantly portrays a veteran pitcher who is coming to terms with the lifespan of an athlete. Most athletes don’t think about the end until it’s too late, and luckily for Chapel he’s able to go out with his head held high. The movie is also strengthened by the great Vin Scully, who provides many amazing soundbites that enhance the overall dynamic of the story. The friendship between Chapel and his catcher Gus also shows how important it is to have that chemistry between pitcher and catcher. It’s just a great, underappreciated baseball movie that should be held in higher esteem. And Costner, of course, kills it in this role, once again as someone grown men were able to connect with.

1. Bull Durham– Crash Davis (minor league catcher)

When discussing baseball movies, this one is always sure to be at the top of the list. That’s in no small part due to Costner’s performance. You really believed he was a career minor leaguer who accepted his role of mentoring the hot-headed young pitcher. Costner once again looks like an actual player here, so you believe he is a career minor leaguer. Tim Robbins, on the other hand, was the total opposite. He was looking like he was throwing a medicine ball every time he pitched.

The movie has its classic moments, most of which involved Costner. Particularly memorable were him tipping the batter of the next pitch (twice) and telling Nuke how strikeouts are boring (and fascist). The scene on the mound where everyone is gathered, sorting out all their problems, before deciding on candlesticks as a gift never gets old. And every wanna-be baseball player perks up when Crash tells the guys about the best 21 days of his life: 21 days spent in the show. To borrow from another baseball movie, after listening to that, how can you not be romantic about baseball?

Crash Davis is every guy who ever played baseball, from the little leagues to the majors. Arguing with the ump, talking to himself at the plate, refusing to accept that his time may be up and then slowly coming to terms with it. When talking about Costner’s ability to accurately portray athletes on screen, this is the one that people most identify with. This is Costner’s best sports role of all time and deserves its place in baseball and sports movie history.

The GOAT

Costner has excelled in other genres, such as romantic dramas, historical fiction, and of course westerns. And while he may be John Dutton, trying to protect his land from everyone vying for it, his contribution to sports movies will forever be his true identity. The nostalgia for baseball that every fan feels at some point can usually be linked to one of his baseball movies. We’ll always think about him on NFL Draft Day, comparing his character to a current real-life GM. When you’re on the course and refusing to lay up, stubbornly hitting ball after ball into the water, you’ll feel like Roy McAvoy. And most importantly, when a father has that first catch with his son, he’ll fondly remember Billy Chapel’s dad telling him to “just throw it to the glove, son” or hope the day comes when his son turns to him and says:

“Hey dad, wanna have a catch?”

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