Screwball Annie and hardball Crash aren't playing the same game, which is Shelton's conceit as well as a possible screen-writing miscalculation.

Ron Shelton, who wrote and directed the film, displays a knowledge of and affection for the national pastime. You can see it in the knowing detail he brings to even the minor characters.

[Shelton is] uncanny at putting us inside his players' heads when they're on the mound or up at bat, running their private litanies of encouragement and subversion to psych themselves up.

The fact that Bull Durham savors the scuzzier side of the game makes it all the more romantic.