Initially, John Sayles envisioned himself in a minor role as a member of the Chicago White Sox. After working over a decade to get the script turned into a movie, he was too old to convincingly portray a ballplayer when filming started. Instead, he cast himself as sportswriter Ring Lardner.
In many scenes, players toss their gloves down on the field near their positions before they head to the dugout. Until the 1950s, players frequently left their gloves on the field while at bat. Because of the danger of players stepping on or tripping on them, and batted or thrown balls bouncing off them in odd directions, Major League Baseball requested, then demanded, players to take their gloves with them to the dugout. They finally complied after a rule change and fines.
Director John Sayles was contractually obligated to a running time under two hours. To inspire the cast to talk fast, he showed them the film City for Conquest (1940). The final cut of the film is 1:59:48.
John Sayles bore such a striking resemblance to newspaper writer Ring Lardner that he played the part himself.
John Sayles used cardboard cutouts to help fill up the stands in the ballpark. He needed 1,000 extras to film close-ups and panning shots of live fans. To lure the extras, Charlie Sheen volunteered to take part in a contest for one extra to have a lunch with him.