Angels in the Outfield

Roger is a boy in foster care whose absent father makes a careless promise: they will be together again once the California Angels win the pennant. Since the Angels sit at the bottom of the standings, Roger takes the pledge seriously and prays for the team to turn its season around. Help arrives in the form of an angel named Al, who comes to the aid of the struggling players, though only Roger seems able to see him. With the Angels' fortunes changing and Roger's behaviour baffling those around him, the boy's hope for a family rests on a team that has not given anyone reason to believe.

William Dear directed the film, which came after If Looks Could Kill in his filmography and was released in 1994. The screenplay was written by George Wells, Dorothy Kingsley and Holly Goldberg Sloan, and the cast is led by Danny Glover as manager George Knox, Tony Danza as Mel Clark, Brenda Fricker as Maggie Nelson, Ben Johnson as Hank Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Roger and Jay O. Sanders as Ranch Wilder. It was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Caravan Pictures.

Made for a budget of around 31 million dollars, the film took in roughly 50 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.2 out of 10 from about 38,000 votes, while on TMDB it has 6 out of 10 from a much smaller group, and critics gave it 4.6 out of 10 across 29 reviews.