The Chris Moeller Archives

Hollywood comes to Norway

The story of Norway (IA) high school's final baseball season and championship is being developed into a movie by David Mickey Evans, director of "The Sandlot." "The Final Season" will star Sean Astin ("Rudy," "The Lord of the Rings") as Kent Stock, the head coach of the team during the 1991 season. Later that year, the school merged with Benton Community Schools.
Norway, a school that had only 104 students in grades 9 through 12 in 1991, had-- and has-- a rich baseball tradition. They won 20 state titles and developed three major league baseball players. Hal Trosky was one of the American League's most-feared sluggers in the 1930s and the Cleveland Indians' all-time home run leader for more than half a century. (It's now Albert Belle.) Bruce Kimm, as a player, is best remembered as Mark "The Bird" Fidrych's personal catcher during the wacky left-hander's infamous 1976 season. Kimm earned a World Series ring as the third base coach for the Florida Marlins in 1997 and briefly managed the Chicago Cubs in 2002. Mike Boddicker was the American League Rookie Pitcher of the Year in 1983, and won the ALCS MVP that same season as a member of the Baltimore Orioles. Nate Frese, a member of the 1991 Norway team as an eighth-grader, has reached as high as Triple A, with Des Moines in the Cubs' farm system.
I was a sophomore at Benton Community in '91, traveled to Marshalltown to watch the state tournament, and was pleased to play with many of the championship players after the consolidation. Two starters on the team, infielders Tim Arp and Jim Schulte, have contributed to this blog. I have it on authority from one of them that the players who still live in the Cedar Rapids area have been out to dinner with the movie's producers, where they were encouraged to share their memories.
The buzz on the film went statewide today thanks to an article in the Des Moines Register. Sue and Jerry chatted about it on our "Drive-Time Des Moines" program on WHO Radio, even giving me a chance on the air to share my memories as a "hanger-on" to the whole experience. After the chat, we got a call in studio from Norway City Councilman Jack Barnes. Jack has only lived in Norway for six years (in fact, he used to be an engineer at WHO--- and yes, everyone in Iowa knows everyone else), so he wasn't there in '91, but he did a great job promoting the town on the air and describing the excitement surrounding the film.
There are so many fascinating aspects to this film-- and I thought "Field of Dreams" hit close to home! What will Hollywood do to the real story? We know already that a romantic story line has been invented for Coach Stock, and there will be a fictional player, a "troubled" kid from Chicago who has to "adjust" to country life. What position will he play? Will he force Tim or Jim to the bench? Will casting agents make the players look older than they actually were? Hollywood tends to do that in films about war, high school, or sports. How will Benton Community be portrayed? A movie always needs a heavy. (I suggest a nasty Benton Community administrator who wants to replace the baseball team with a tractor plowing team.) Will there be scenes of realism thrown in, such as the players playing APBA, the classic baseball board game, during their down time? I hope so. Will they obscure the rampant use of chewing tobacco on the team to make the film more family friendly? I hope this as well.
The most encouraging sign that the movie will be an epic success is that it will be shot on-location in Norway, Marshalltown, and Cedar Rapids. As a tourist attraction, this could wind up making that cornfield in Dyersville look like the Moeller farm.
Cast and crew will be on the scene this summer, with the film expected to be finished by fall and ready for release next spring.

posted by CM @ 8:28 PM