Educational Media Reviews Online

Ron Taylor: Dr. Baseball is a limited biography of Ron Taylor. Dr. Taylor played baseball at the major league level from 1962 to 1972. He was a right handed relief pitcher earning World Series Championship rings with the 1964 St. Louis Cardinals and the 1969 Miracle Mets. Several of his best games came during crisis moments for his teams. Toward the end of his baseball career he went to Vietnam as a USO sports personality. This trip changed his life focus from baseball to medicine. He applied to and was accepted into medical school which he completed, becoming a physician. He spent the next 35 years practicing medicine, including as the team physician for the Toronto Blue Jays. This 20-minute documentary is produced by his sons who use this opportunity to tell the story of their father.

This film succeeds at several levels. It makes a baseball fan want to get to know Dr. Taylor better as a player. At a deeper level the film and the extra materials make the viewers feel as if they know Dr. Taylor, at least a little bit, by the end of the film as a person, ball player, and father.

Unfortunately, the negatives significantly outweigh the positives in this film endeavor. Although this life story deserves to be told and has potential to become a stirring biography of a remarkable man this film is not the one that does that. There is little discussion of his USO travel to Vietnam which is not presented in a way that lets one see how this experience could have become the life-changing event that it obviously was for Dr. Taylor. This situation is not helped either in the extra materials. Although the extras include footage from several different film festivals which allow the viewer to get to know Dr. Taylor and his sons better there is little discussion about this aspect of his life anywhere in the film. His 35 years as a physician are mentioned, but little is said about these beyond the fact that he was a team physician. The rest of his medical practice is not discussed at all! His baseball life is told in brief video clips which show some highlights that allow a serious sports fan to understand something about his career, but does little to help less devoted sports fans see his significance to baseball. Interviews with well-known baseball figures, including Joe Torre, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Ferguson Jenkins, Tim McCarver, and others add to the baseball atmosphere and provide additional character information about Dr. Taylor. The extras are poor to fair cinema at best. The lighting and sound are bad. The three film festivals cover repetitive aspects and are significantly longer than the film.

It is doubtful that this story can be told well in any 20-minute film. A sports story about an above average, but nowhere near superstar, baseball player who last set foot on the mound in a competitive game in 1972 is unlikely to attract a significant interest in any library, except for one catering to truly die hard baseball fans. His life story, although remarkable and worthy of preservation, does not come through well in this film as the achievement that it is. His life story alone as presented in this film is unlikely to attract much interest or be seen as inspirational by most people, including youth who could benefit from the career information that could be presented through this story. These negatives and the assumption that little circulation would be expected leads to the not recommended rating.