MovieChat Forums > Casper (1995) Discussion > Duke Snider was Casper's Favorite Baseba...

Duke Snider was Casper's Favorite Baseball Player?

posted 9 years ago by scelli
10 replies | jump to latest

Bought this on Blu-ray as the film and cast looked interesting. Watched for the first time last night and enjoyed the movie simply for what it was: some light entertainment. While there were some goofs and plot holes, the worst to me was Casper claiming Duke Snider was his favorite baseball player. It may just be my imagination (or ghosts playing with my mind!) but got the definite impression Casper and his family lived sometime around the time period of the late 1890's to around the 1920's if newspaper clippings, toys and manner of dress shown in the flick are any reliable indication. That said, Edwin Donald "Duke" Snider wasn't even born until 1926 and played for the Brooklyn/LA Dodgers, NY Mets and SF Giants during his Hall of Fame career. Had Casper stated his favorite baseball player was Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson or someone similar that played major league baseball during what was known as the dead-ball era, it certainly would have been much more believable...or as believable as a ghost story like this can be!

[–] LuSilveira 9 years ago

Indeed it would. The writers apparently can't do math, as the time is messed up on this movie.

[–] scelli 9 years ago

Indeed it would.The writers apparently can't do math, as the time is messed up on this movie.

Too bad really because it was a nice little flick, but that sort of thing discourages folks from heartily recommending a movie to others.

(Just as an aside: growing up in New York, I had the opportunity as a kid to play ball with one of The Duke's sons, Kevin, while in a summer day camp on Long Island back in the early 1960's. Snider himself was playing for the NY Mets at the time and actually came to the camp one day with Ron Fairly, Jim Gilliam and Wes Parker (all of whom he knew from his days with the Brooklyn/LA Dodgers) as the Dodgers were in NY to play a series with the Mets. Quite a memory indeed.)

[–] LuSilveira 9 years ago

The movie is cool even with those... I'd still recommend it, but most people would be confused ._.

And whoa, a heck of a memory! :D

[–] scelli 9 years ago

Yeah, that was a pretty cool event for a punk NY kid like me. Speaking of memory: mine certainly ain't what it used to be as realized after posting it was the Duke's son Kurt and not his other son Kevin I played with. Have this very distinct image of him pitching and not playing the outfield like his dad, but we're talking 50 years ago. In the words of the late Red Barber, great baseball announcer for both the Brooklyn Dodgers and later the NY Yankees:

Oh, doctor!!!

[–] LuSilveira 8 years ago

You're a 50s kid, uh? Sweet! :D

"After coming into contact with a religious man, I always feel I must wash my hands." - F. Nietzsche

[–] Koosh_King01 9 years ago

...so Casper can't like someone he saw after he'd been a ghost? If he's aware of people and things from after he died, he can be aware of, and like, Snider.

I mean, really, how many times will you look under Jabba's manboobs?

[–] scelli 9 years ago

Watch the movie again: it clearly was indicating Casper liked Snider as a ballplayer when he was alive as a child. Otherwise, there would be absolutely no reason whatsoever for such an angle to be introduced into the plot and was simply sloppy research on the part of the screenwriters as well as the production team responsible for the movie. Dead kids (and particularly the ghosts of dead kids) don't obtain and cherish Brooklyn Dodgers baseball caps as souvenirs: they are acquired while still living and Casper was long deceased by the time Duke Snider was even born as I've previously stated.

[–] Moonlighty 8 years ago

Yeah it was clear he was a fan as a kid when talking about his "treasure." I agree, and it's not like Duke Snider was such a big star that it was the only baseball player they could think of. Even if they said Babe Ruth it would have worked out a little better. It's not like he was a fan in the 1890's and it would be hard pre internet possibly to find a star of 19th century baseball. There were a lot of well known players early 20th century that would have made more sense.

-
Consider the daffodil. And while you're doing that I'll be over here looking through your stuff.

[–] scelli 8 years ago

Don't you just hate that sort of thing in movies? Drives me off a wall. I realize such stuff is lower than whale dung in the grand scheme of things, but it still takes away from my enjoyment of a flick. Borrowed and watched the Coen Brothers film "A Serious Man" for the first time a few weeks ago from my local library and really enjoyed it, so much so I bought the Blu-ray. However: there was a great part that basically was ruined for me and involved music from the 1960's, which I have a fairly decent knowledge of since I grew up in that era.

Here's the IMDB "Goofs" section and note comments 1 and 3 regarding the particular scene:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1019452/goofs?ref_=tt_ql_trv_2

And don't even get me started on phone numbers in movieland that always begin with 555! 😄

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]