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Bill Veeck, a Major League Baseball businessman who survived serious injuries as a Marine during World War II, would be a tough act for any kid to follow. But it cannot be said that one of his children has not tried. That would be Mike Veeck, the subject of the joyous new documentary “The Saint of Second Chances.”
Mike, now in his seventies, is an engaging screen presence in this story, either appearing as himself or played in reenactments by Charlie Day (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”). The film was directed by Morgan Neville (“20 Feet from Stardom”) and Jeff Malmberg (“Marwencol”) and is a bit more whimsical than their previous work.
But it turns out that elegant fits well with the Veeck. We see that Bill believed that “the loveliest way to spend an afternoon or evening” was at the stadium. In the 1970s, reigning at Chicago’s Comiskey Park with the city’s second MLB team, the White Sox, he was a ramshackle marketing innovator. Mike tried to match it: a disastrous 1979 gathering at Comiskey called Disco Demolition Night, where a record-burning stunt turned into a riot resulting in dozens of arrests, was Mike’s idea. The fiasco took a well-deserved setback, sending young Veeck into a tailspin.
The feel-good narrative of this film essentially depends on whether you believe Mike’s claim that he wouldn’t have done the event if he “thought it would hurt someone.” Once Mike returned to the game years later, through the Independent League ball organization, he brought the fun in eccentric ways, including a ball-carrying pig. Darryl Strawberry testifies here that Mike helped him love the game again. And the story of a personal tragedy in Mike’s family life is moving.
The saint of second chances
Not qualified. Duration: 1 hour 33 minutes. Watch it on Netflix.