Skip to content
The Natural episode artwork

Apr 12, 2025 1 hr 26 min

The Natural

from Matinee Heroes

THE NATURAL Roy Hobbs was born to play baseball—and nothing was going to stand in his way. A natural talent with a lightning bolt for a bat, he quickly catches the eye of scouts and earns the admiration of sportswriter Max Mercy. But just as his star begins to rise, a chance encounter with a mysterious woman derails everything. Years later, Hobbs resurfaces as a seemingly unknown rookie with the New York Knights. Despite clashing with crusty manager Pop Fisher, he becomes the team’s secret weapon—and a threat to the shady team owner, the Judge, who would rather see Hobbs fail than win it all. Craig, Elisabeth and guest Derek McCaw talk about American Mythos, 47-year-old teenagers, the undeniable love of sports films and the movie “The Natural” on this week’s Matinee Heroes! Show Notes 1:26 Craig, Elisabeth and guest Derek McCaw talk about their love of baseball movies despite their indifference to baseball. 9:47 Craig, Elisabeth and Derek discuss “The Natural” 54:14 Recasting 1:15:36 Double Feature 1:19:31 Final Thoughts 1:23:34 A preview of next week’s episode “Hoosiers” Next week we continue sports movies with a tribute to Gene Hackman and “Hoosiers” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12h5KGHU8Mg&ab_channel=AmazonMGMStudios

Episode details come from the podcast's RSS feed.

Embed this episode

Ready to play

The Natural

0:00 1:26:24

No transcript yet.

Requests help us decide what to transcribe next.

Frequently asked questions

How long is this episode of Matinee Heroes?

This episode is 1 hour and 26 minutes long.

When was this Matinee Heroes episode published?

This episode was published on April 12, 2025.

Can I download this Matinee Heroes episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.