''Up for Grabs'' is a 2004 comedic documentary about two men who fought over custody of a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

. It is based on a real-life incident surrounding a record-setting Barry Bonds home run, where the ball was contested in the property law case of '' Popov v. Hayashi''. It was directed and produced by Michael Wranovics.

Plot

The ball happened to be the one hit by

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

slugger Barry Bonds for his record-setting 73rd home run at the end of the 2001 MLB season. When the ball landed in the right-field bleachers at what was then PacBell Park (San Francisco), there was a mad scramble for the precious ball, bodies piled up on the walkway above

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. Patrick Hayashi, who stood quietly with a sheepish grin on his face as the scrum continued, eventually held the historic ball up for a TV camera to reveal that he had possession of it. MLB and Giants security grabbed Mr. Hayashi and escorted him down to the bowels of the ballpark and authenticated his baseball as the true #73. As Hayashi prepared to be the next Bay Area millionaire, a man named Alex Popov, owner of Smart Alec's restaurant in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

, was complaining loudly that he had caught the ball on the fly and that Patrick had stolen the ball from him at the bottom of the pile. Video footage shot by KNTV news cameraman Josh Keppel did actually show the ball land in Popov's glove, providing the key evidence that led to a trial in San Francisco Superior Court. While the 88-minute film does tell the story from the moment the ball leaves Barry Bonds' bat all the way through the trial and to the dramatic auction where the ball was finally sold to the highest bidder, the film is more of a satire than a serious examination of what actually happened and who ultimately deserved the ball. Inspired by the mockumentary films of

Christopher Guest Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest (born February 5, 1948) is an American-British screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor, and comedian. Guest is most widely known in Hollywood for having written, directed, and starred in ...

(''

Waiting for Guffman ''Waiting for Guffman'' is a 1996 American mockumentary comedy film written by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy, and directed by Guest. The film's ensemble cast includes Guest, Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Fred Willard, and Parker Posey. The film's ...

'', '' Best in Show'', etc.), ''Up for Grabs'' focuses on the characters involved rather than the event itself.

Awards

''Up for Grabs'' won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2004

Los Angeles Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episod ...

, plus Best Documentary at the

Gen Art Film Festival Gen Art is an arts and entertainment organization that showcases emerging fashion designers, filmmakers, musicians and visual artists. It has produced over 100 events annually, which included fashion shows, film premieres and screenings, live musi ...

(New York) and the

Phoenix Film Festival Phoenix Film Festival is a festival that celebrates feature films and their creators. Started in 2000, the annual celebration takes place in the city of Phoenix, Arizona. The festival is a showcase for feature and short films from all over the wo ...

. Its

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

critical "Fresh" rating is 93%. MLB Advanced Media released the DVD during the 2007 MLB season - which coincides with Barry Bonds' successful pursuit of

Hank Aaron Henry Louis Aaron (February 5, 1934 – January 22, 2021), nicknamed "Hammer" or "Hammerin' Hank", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1954 through 1976. One of the gre ...

's lifetime home run record. Bonds hit his 756th career HR on August 7, 2007. The film was nominated for the

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship ''Enterpris ...

Golden Groundhog Award for Best Underground Movie, other nominated films were

Lexi Alexander Alexandra Mirai ( ar, الكسندرا ميراي; born 23 August 1974), known professionally as Lexi Alexander, is a German-Palestinian film and television director, martial artist, and actress. She is a former World Karate Association world c ...

's ''

Green Street Hooligans ''Green Street'' (also known as ''Green Street Hooligans'' and ''Hooligans'') is a 2005 crime drama film about football hooliganism in the United Kingdom. The film was directed by Lexi Alexander and stars Elijah Wood and Charlie Hunnam. Two s ...

'', Neil Gaiman's and Dave McKean's ''

MirrorMask ''MirrorMask'' is a 2005 dark fantasy film designed and directed by Dave McKean and written by Neil Gaiman from a story they developed together. The film stars Stephanie Leonidas, Jason Barry, Rob Brydon, and Gina McKee. The music used in the fi ...

'', Rodrigo García's '' Nine Lives'', and ''

Opie Gets Laid ''Opie Gets Laid'', originally titled ''Sunnyvale'' for its film festival submissions, is a 2005 American independent romantic comedy film written and directed by James Ricardo and starring James Ricardo, April Wade, Ute Werner and Jesselynn Des ...

''.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0420356, Up for Grabs
Rotten Tomatoes''Up for Grabs'' Boston Globe Review
2004 films 2004 comedy films 2004 documentary films 2000s sports films American sports documentary films Documentary films about baseball American baseball films Documentary films about fandom American mockumentary films 2000s mockumentary films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films