''The Last Home Run'' is a 1996 film directed by Bob Gosse. It tells the story of Jonathan Lyle, an elderly man in a

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms ...

(played by

Seymour Cassel Seymour Joseph Cassel (January 22, 1935 – April 7, 2019) was an American actor who appeared in over 200 films and television shows, with a career spanning over 50 years. He first came to prominence in the 1960s in the pioneering independent f ...

) who is transformed by a mystic, for five days, into a 12-year-old boy (played by Thomas Guiry) playing Little League Baseball. ''The Last Home Run'' also starred

Jordi Vilasuso Jordi Alejandro Vilasuso (; born June 15, 1981) is an American actor best known for originating the role of Tony Santos on the CBS soap opera ''Guiding Light'' from August 2000 until August 2003. He has also portrayed the roles of Griffin Cas ...

and Vinnette Justine Carroll (in her last film appearance), and included cameos by former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

players

Gary Carter Gary Edmund Carter (April 8, 1954 – February 16, 2012) was an American professional baseball catcher whose 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career was spent primarily with the Montreal Expos and New York Mets. Nicknamed "Kid" for his youth ...

and

Dave Winfield David Mark Winfield (born October 3, 1951) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) right fielder. He is the special assistant to the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association. Over his 22-year career, he playe ...

. It was based on a story by Roger Flax who wrote the screenplay along with Ed Apfel. The

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is film production, produced outside the Major film studios, major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independ ...

was produced in 1995, and was released

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strat ...

on March 23, 1996. The movie marked the only film appearance by the real Marley, the

Labrador Retriever The Labrador Retriever or simply Labrador or Lab is a British list of dog breeds, breed of water dog retriever gun dog. It was developed in the United Kingdom from St. John's water dogs imported from the Newfoundland Colony, colony of Newfoun ...

that was the central character of the best-selling 2005 book '' Marley & Me'' and the 2008 film of the same name. Author John Grogan devoted Chapter 16, "The Audition", to the dog's escapades during filming at a

Lake Worth, Florida Lake Worth Beach, previously named Lake Worth, is a city in east-central Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, located about north of Miami. The city's name is derived from the body of water along its eastern border known as the Lake Wort ...

, hotel parking lot. Marley got a screen credit "Marley the Dog...As Himself" for his two minutes of screen time.Grogan, John (2005). - ''Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog''. - New York:

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

. - pp.149-161. -

References

1996 films 1990s sports drama films 1990s English-language films Films directed by Bob Gosse Films about dogs Films set in Florida American baseball films American sports drama films 1996 drama films 1990s American films English-language sports drama films {{1990s-US-drama-film-stub