'' The Battered Bastards of Baseball '' is a 2014 documentary film about the Portland Mavericks , a defunct minor league baseball team in Portland , Oregon . They played five seasons in the Class A-Short Season Northwest League , from 1973 through 1977 . Owned by actor Bing Russell , the Mavericks were an independent team , without the affiliation of a parent team in the major leagues . The title is from a line in Jim Bouton 's book Ball Four " Us battered bastards of baseball are the biggest customers of the U.S. Post Office , forwarding-address department . " The film was directed by Chapman Way and Maclain Way , grandsons of Russell , and features Russell 's son Kurt Russell , who played for the Mavericks and worked as a vice president . It also includes batboy Todd Field , Frank " The Flake " Peters , Joe Garza , Jim Bouton , and Joe Garagiola . The film premiered to a standing ovation at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 20 , 2014 . Netflix , initially one of several interested buyers , acquired the rights to the film and premiered it as an Original Documentary on July 11 , 2014
2014 Sundance Film Festival
2014 Sundance Film Festival
The Battered Bastards of Baseball