barry pepper and thomas jane portray two legendary baseball hero like they grow up watch them play and play . the support cast add to this film a jennifer crystal foley ( pat mari ) and chris bauer ( bob cerv ) and anthony michael hall ( whitey ford ) and and bruce mcgill ( ralph houk ) brilliantly display the up and down emotion of deal with two player thrust into the limelight of try to break one of baseball all time record . billy crystal do a masterful job direct this cast to recreate childhood memory of his hero ( mantle ) and the battle he face from mari and his own demon .