Robert Redford

We recently posted about The Natural, one of our favorite films.  Sadly, shortly thereafter this posting the star of that film Robert Redford passed away on September 16^th at the age of 89.

Due to Mr. Redford starring in this most classic of baseball films there sprung up rumors over the years that he had a baseball background in high school and college before fully focusing on acting as his choice of professions. Much like The Natural any claim to Mr. Redford having been a ball player appears largely fictionalized.

Claim #1 – Robert Redford played on the Van Nuys High School baseball team with hall of famer Don Drysdale.

Yes, it is true that both Robert Redford and Don Drysdale attended Van Nuys High School in California.  Although they both attended the same school at the same time, there is no evidence to show that they played together on the baseball team.  In 2011, Brian Cronin took a deep dive into the story for the Los Angeles Times and noted that the, “Van Nuys yearbooks from 1952–54 list Drysdale on the team, but not Redford. Instead, Redford’s name shows up with the tennis team”.  This goes against what both Redford and Drysdale actually told St. Louis sportswriter Bob Broeg years ago with Redford stating that he did play ball with Drysdale and then that same sportswriter recalled that when he later spoke with Drysdale that he said “Redford was a pretty good ball player“.

The conclusion by the LA Times reporter that the claims of both Redford and Drysdale playing on the high school team together were false.  Instead Cronin surmises, that “It’s very possible that Redford and Drysdale crossed paths on sandlots or in summer leagues around Van Nuys, which could explain both men’s recollections. If they played together outside of school, Redford’s use of the word “teammate” wasn’t entirely wrong, just not accurate in the high school varsity sense”.

Claim #2 – Robert Redford attended the University of Colorado Boulder on a baseball scholarship from 1954 to 1955 before dropping out.

There is no evidence to support that Redford received a scholarship. As noted here in this Axios article,”We have no evidence to suggest that he received a baseball scholarship or ever played on the baseball team here,” CU athletic department spokesperson Steve Hurlbert stated.” It was noted in that article that there might have been an expectation that Redford was “offered the possibility of an eventual sports scholarship” and the mention of a half scholarship.  That half scholarship is noted on Redford’s Wikipedia page, but it does not mention baseball associated with the scholarship, just a half scholarship.

It was not all fiction though, as we discovered these facts about Robert Redford in terms of baseball:

• He described himself as a Red Sox fan in a 2016 interview with Boston Globe and wore the number 9 in the movie as a tribute to Ted Williams.
• In that same 2016 interview, ”Redford played youth baseball _ “I wanted to be a professional ballplayer,” he said to the Boston Globe in 2016 _ and, like Ted Williams, he batted left-handed”.
• “When I was growing up, the only real hero I ever had was Ted Williams,” Redford told Esquire magazine in 1988.
• Former Cardinals minor-leaguer Tony Ferrara, batting practice pitcher for the Mets and Yankees, had a bit part in the film. “I did all the pitching to Robert Redford, who was a good hitter,” Ferrara told Dave Anderson of the New York Times. “His idol was Ted Williams and he stood up there like Ted Williams, with the bat straight up. I knew where and how he liked the ball … He hit a few out on me.”

Finally, Director Barry Levinson noted about Redford on the set of The Natural that “He was a really good athlete so those catches that he was making in the field that was him, there were no doubles”.

Therefore, despite some of the fictional accounts made about Redford’s baseball background it does not take away from him being the perfect choice to play Roy Hobbs. In fact, for a movie that is somewhat shrouded in mystery throughout much of it, the myths about Redford’s background only add to the movie’s intrigue.

Rest in peace Mr. Redford.