"The national pastime's first great double-play combination inspired not only the best-known baseball verse, 'These are the saddest possible words/Tinkers to Evers to Chance,' but also the excuse, if not the basis, for this 1949 Busby Berkeley musical. Stanley Donen teamed with Gene Kelly on the story with Kelly and Frank Sinatra starring as O'Brien to Ryan, players on a barnstorming turn-of-the-century ball club. With the team's owner, Esther Williams, opportunities for song and dance, comedy antics and elaborate production numbers are as numerous as peanuts in a box of crackerjacks and a good time is had by all. Numbers include the triple play, 'O'Brien to Ryan to Goldberg' and a pull-out-the-stops production, 'Strictly U.S.A.'" --Jon Winet