LET’S RENT TWO! Great Baseball MOVIES

The Natural. Never mind that Robert Redfo is too old for the part of Roy Hohbs, the ultimate replacement player, or that the climax is so predictable. You’ll get a rise when Redford lifts the last one into the lights, Amusing interplay between bedraggled New York Knights skipper Pop (Wilford Brimley) and sidekick Red {Richard Farnsworth). Nice turns by Robert Duvail as sportswriter Max Mercy and Joe Don Baker as The Wham-mer, a Ruthian figure.

Bull Durham. The sexiest baseball movie ever, with Susan Sarandon as a literate and libidinous baseball groupie, Annie Savoy. Sarandon nurtures bonus baby Nuke LaLoosh (Tim Robbins), he of the $1 million arm and 5-cent head, later beds (and tubs) Crash Davis (Kevin Costner). Amusing script by writer/director Ron Shelton, who spent time in the Texas Rangers’ system. Memorable line: “The only church that feeds the soul, day and night, is baseball.”

A League of Their Own. You can’t keep sisters Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis) and Kit Keller {Lori Petty) down on the dairy’ farm after scout Ernie Capadino (JonLovitz) tells them about the Ail-American Girls Professional Baseball League, the zenith of WWII replacement baseball. Sibling rivalry is at the core of director Penny Marshall’s sentimental flick. Tom Hanks is terrific as jimmy Dugan, a besotted ex-big leaguer with bad knees and a unique way of signing autographs. Memorable line: “There’s no crying in baseball.”

But it’s okay to cry while watching baseball movies.

The Pride of the Yankees. No real baseball fan should watch Lou Gehrig’s farewell speech (“today I consider myself the luckiest man alive”) without a box of tissues nearby. Gary Cooper captures the modesty and humility of the Iron Horse, hut falls woefully short in the (mercifully) few action sequences. Babe Ruth appears as himself (so does fellow Yankee Hall of Famer Bill Dickey) and mugs for the camera. Best of the bio-pics.

Bang The Drum Slowly. Baseball’s version of Brian’s Song. New York Mammoth scrub catcher Bruce Pearson (Robert De Niro) is slowly dying of Hodgkin’s Disease, but the bickering team’s star pitcher, Henry Wiggen (Michael Moriarty), protects his batterymate-to the point of including him as a two-fer in contract talks. Shades of Koufax and Drysdale-Vincent Gardenia shines as Mammoth manager Dutch Schnell. Memorable line: “From here on in, I ain’t ragging nobody.”

Field of Dreams. Another weeper, especially in the final scene when once-embit-tered son Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) finally gets to play catch with his dad. Listen for the exquisite utterances of Terrance Mann (James Earl Jones) on baseball’s unifying hold on America. Points deducted, though, for having lefty Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta) bat righthanded. Memorable line: “Daddy, there’s a man out there on your lawn.”

Eight Men Out. More of the Shoeless Joe saga, based on the Black Sox Scandal of 1919 that resulted in Jackson and seven Chicago teammates being barred from baseball for tanking the World Series. Director John Sayles, who appears as sportswriter Ring Lardner, shows how artfully he can capture a period. Excellent ensemble cast includes Jason Alexander, pre-“Seinfeld.” Memorable line: “What are they going to do, call the cops?”

It Happens Every Spring. Lacks political correctness re: gender and race, but otherwise one of those charming 1940s comedies. Absent-minded chemist Vernon Simpson (Ray Milland) develops a compound that keeps baseballs away from wood He reinvents himself as pitcher King Kelly and leads the St. Louis Cardinals to a World Series victory. Arresting optical effects (for the first few pitches, anyway). Memorable line: “I appeal to your intelligence as a [baseball] executive.”