The first of Charles Ray's baseball films (the other was 1919's The Busher), The Pinch Hitter casts Ray as Joel Parker, "the bashfullest critter in the country and sort of dummified." At his father's behest, Joel is enrolled in Williamson College, where he becomes the butt of every cruel joke perpetrated by the upper classmen. His only friend on campus is Abby Nettelton (Abby Nettelton), owner of the local candy store. Trying out for the Williamson baseball team, Joel is made team mascot by soft-hearted Coach Nolan (Louis Durham). Throughout the entire season, Joel warms the bench, but during the all-important Big Game he is sent in as a pinch-hitter, only because Nolan has run out of eligible players. Inspired by Abby's presence in the grandstands (or, as the subtitle puts it: "Two eyes. . .spelling in vibrant letters one grand word -- Confidence!"), Joel scores the winning run. The Pinch Hitter was the first directorial assignment of Victor Schertzinger, who went on to collaborate thirteen more times with Charles Ray, and during the talkie era piloted several of the Bing Crosby-Bob Hope "Road" pictures. The film was remade in 1925 with Glenn Hunter, and was also one of the prime inspirations for the Harold Lloyd classic The Freshman. Good, original prints of the 1917 version of The Pinch Hitter are still available, complete with such unforgettable vignettes as an animated baseball soaring through the sky like a flaming comet!
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