RALLY CAPS– 4 STARS

One of the inspirational anchors of the new family sports flick Rally Caps is former Major League Baseball player Curtis Pride. Most casual, or even diehard fans, have probably never heard of him. His official Baseball Reference page is scantly minuscule and undetailed. It takes going to his Wikipedia page to learn that in 1993 Curtis was the first deaf player in Major League Baseball in nearly fifty years. In our current era of maximizing and celebrating inclusion, that should be kind of a big deal, but the Curtis Pride story is not echoing in the hallowed halls of Cooperstown next to bigger names and legends of the game. There is no flashy ESPN 30 for 30 documentary for the man, only his testimony and the charitable footprints he’s left since leaving the game.

Fans of sports movies know Hollywood loves inflating unknown underdog stories. For example, most folks never heard of the likes of Rudy Ruettiger or Lane Frost before movies like Rudy or 8 Seconds came along to draw cheers and tears. Their success proves it’s not always the size of the legend that always counts. Even so, the grand style of lionizing hero worship is the farthest thing from director Lee Cipolla’s mind.

LESSON #1: EVEN SMALL STORIES CAN INSPIRE– Rally Caps is not the story of Curtis Pride made with spotlights, celluloid polish, and crowd-pleasing sweep. the former ballplayer makes a brief appearance as himself not to drop jaws, but to help guide a group of young people, one of which— who is not even the film’s lead— has a similar hearing impairment, at a key moment in the film. Rather than be the center of the story, Pride’s presence is one sweetening touch of many in Rally Caps that shows the effectiveness of how even a minor legend can ring true, still inspire, and be worth the effort even for a small audience. 

The real main character of Rally Caps is a fervent young Baltimore Orioles fan named Jordy, played by Carson Minniear from the above-average 2021 Justin Timberlake vehicle Palmer. In the absence of his recently-deceased father, Jordy’s granddad Herb, played by the incomparable two-time Oscar nominee Judd Hirsch (The Fabelmans, Ordinary People), has trained him in the elaborate rituals of fandom (including the practice that makes up the movie’s title) and turned him into a mini-encyclopedia for all things baseball, complete with Dyersville dreams. Herb and Jordy’s mother Nora (Crank series star Amy Smart) have prepared him for the start of the Little League season, including a belated gift of a glove from his late father, only for a disastrous accident to ruin all of the momentum of Jordy’s good cheer.

LESSON #2: REINJURY ANXIETY IS A POWERFUL FEAR– At the first tryout while taking the mound to pitch, a bat slipping out of a hitter’s hands wildly strikes Jordy in the face, severely breaking his nose. Even months after, Jordy’s reinjury anxiety while wearing a protective mask has become a mental block and a powerful fear that has sapped his spirit. The superstitious young man won’t talk about, touch, or even consider anymore baseball, much to his family’s chagrin. One goal of Rally Caps becomes the path to repair the broken trust and faith that are harder to mend than bones and soft tissue.

After a rough and dejected spring, Nora and Herb’s last hope to bring Jordy back to the game they know he loves is enlisting his older brother Rob (newcomer Ben Morang) to chaperone and coach Jordy at a sleepaway summer sports camp he used to attend. In the bunkhouse and on the practice fields, Jordy befriends Lucas (Curtis Pride’s son Colten Pride), a stud catcher and team leader with cochlear implants, which circles Rally Caps back to Curtis Pride’s in-movie pep talk about how anything is possible, including the incredible.

While following the proven path of an underdog sports film culminating in a proverbial Big Game climax, the script from Lee Cipolla (The Shift) based on the book written by the father-daughter writing duo of Stephen J. Cutler and Jodi Michelle Cutler keeps its situations approachably compact. Basking in the summer sport’s glow with a willingness to roll in the joyous grass, Rally Caps has a pleasant lighter side that partakes in the shenanigans, rivalries, and camaraderie of the camp setting as a means of satisfying character-building. Colten Pride and Carson Minniear lead a natural cast of spunky teen and child actors the camera loves to feature.

LESSON #3: ADVERSITY ANSWERED IN PERSONAL CLOSENESS– Rally Caps balances that frolic with addressing many necessary fronts requiring heavy healing. Literal and figurative wounds of broken familial strife and defeated confidence comprise tangible personal adversities that must be overcome. Once again, Rally Caps confronts those challenges with a personal level of closeness. There are no formal counselors spouting labels, passing meds, or scheduling therapy. Rather, supportive gumption and considerate love are the movie’s prescription for family and friendship. Leave to a little indie movie like this to demonstrate sports sensibilities with a heart taller than any MLB stadium or a studio film ten times its budget, where a hug is a bigger victory than any home run.