Susan Granger's review of "The Winning Season" (TNT made-for-television movie)
Nobody really knows for sure when baseball cards first came on the market, but it's generally believed it was in the late 1800s. And one of the National Baseball Hall of Fame's five original inductees, Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Honus Wagner, is considered by many to be the greatest all-around ballplayer. In 1905, he was the first player to have his signature branded on a Louisville Slugger bat - and in 2000, a Honus Wagner T206 tobacco card was sold on eBay for a record $1.265 million. So when financially-strapped 12 year-old Joe Soshack (Mark Rendall), a little leaguer, finds a vintage, mint-condition Honus Wagner card, he's faced with a moral decision: to keep the world's most valuable baseball card or to return it to its rightful owner.
As he ponders this dilemma, he finds himself - as a young adult (Shawn Hatosy) - back at the 1909 World Series between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Detroit Tigers, not only meeting the fabled Honus (Matthew Modine), his fiancée Mandy ("Sex and the City" Kristin Davis) but also Honus' rival, Ty Cobb (William Lee Scott). Joe gets his baseball card signed, upping the value of it even more. But he discovers that the card is part of a batch made by the Majestic Tobacco Co. without Honus' permission, and Honus wants all the cards destroyed, so he won't be promoting smoking. Then Ty Cobb makes Joe an irresistible offer - and this experience will change his life.
Written by Steve Bloom, based on Dan Gutman's novel, "Honus & Me," and directed by John Kent Harrison, this is an inspirational, uplifting baseball fantasy, geared for family viewing. On the Granger Made-for-TV Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "The Winning Season" is a magical 8. It premieres Sunday, April 4, at 8 p.m. on TNT with scheduled encores on April 7, 10 and 11.
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