It took some convincing before George Steinbrenner allowed “For Love of the Game” to be filmed at Yankee Stadium.
In an interview with GQ, Kevin Costner, who played a 40-year-old Tigers pitcher named Billy Chapel in the 1999 movie, revealed that he had to make a last ditch phone call to the Yankees owner to talk him out of killing the flick.
“The movie wasn’t gonna happen in Yankee Stadium, and we already had a crew out there, and no one knew what to do about it, but George wasn’t gonna let it happen,” Costner said. “It wasn’t fair, and it came down to I didn’t have no lawyer, no studio executive. Our movie was dead in the water.
“And somebody said, ‘Kevin, you need to talk to him.’ And I was like, ‘Where are all the tough guys? Everybody, what are you talking about? I have to talk to George.’ But he had said no, it wasn’t gonna happen. We had a contract. So, I call up George. He’s a legendary guy, a difficult guy, and I wasn’t certain how I was gonna go about doing that, but so much was riding on it.”
In the movie, Costner’s character tosses a perfect game for Detroit in the House that Ruth Built – something Steinbrenner had a hard time stomaching.
After an awkward back and forth over the phone, Costner recalled, Steinbrenner finally revealed the holdup.
“I said, ‘All right, George, you wanna explain that to me? Why?’ He goes, ‘Well, the Yankees lose.’ ‘The Yankees what?’” Costner replied. “‘They lose, can’t let that happen, Kev.’ I said, ‘George, it’s a perfect game. I pitch a perfect game.’ ‘You don’t even get a hit. Yes, you lose.’ ‘Yeah, the Yankees can’t lose.’ And I thought, ‘Well, we’ve just lost the stadium ’cause I’m not gonna change the plot.’ So, I listened to him.
“It was a little bit of silence, and I finally said, and I use different words than I’m gonna use with you, I said, ‘George, what are you talking about?’ You can guess what I filled in. And he said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ I said, ‘The Yankees don’t lose. They win.”
Backed into a corner, Costner, who also starred in other iconic baseball movies like “Field of Dreams” and “Bull Durham,” said he used a bit of creative license to get Steinbrenner on his side.
“Now I’m really lying right here right now because they do lose. I kick their ass with a perfect game,” Costner said. “And he goes, ‘What do you mean they don’t lose?’ And I said, I’m tap dancing, thinking, I said, ‘You guys win the pennant. This is a meaningless game. You guys actually win. You don’t need this game. In fact, you even bring up minor leaguers.’ I’m thinking, ‘God, I’m just a world-class liar here.’
“And I said, ‘You win. In fact, you not only win the pennant, George, you go on to win the World Series.’ He goes, ‘We do?’ I said, ‘You do in my story. Just, we’re not gonna see that part.’ And he, I don’t know what the hell happened, but he said, ‘Okay, but you know what this organization means to me.’ I said, ‘I certainly do. You win the World Series, George. I swear to God, you do.’”
Although the movie showed no Yankees World Series win, the real-life Bronx Bombers would win it all the same year, their second of three straight championships.