The Bad News Bears and the sequels it spawned aren’t known for their wholesomeness but one member of the team with an uncanny resemblance to Harpo Marx talked about “the Holy Spirit” and wore Christian t-shirts.
The player was Bears’ third baseman Jimmy Feldman, who resembled Harpo Marx for a reason – he was played by Harpo’s great-nephew Brett Marx – and in the 1978 sequel where the Bears go to Japan, he shows off quite a display of vintage Jesus shirts.
It’s somewhat ironic considering the actor has Jewish heritage, but that’s explained away with a Jews for Jesus shirt he wears in one scene.
Unlike the pun-happy parody Christian shirts I grew up with in the ’90s, Feldman’s shirts are clear, concise and unironic with messages like Praise the Lord and Jesus Saves, another with an icthus fish and still another with an illustration of Jesus.
While the sequels have nothing on the original 1976 movie, the only one with Walter Matthau as the beer-guzzling grumpy washed up former pitcher for a coach, the t-shirts give the movie an added charm and bring to mind my own experiences growing up as the weirdo Christian kid hanging out with a pack of rude and crude boys the old people at church request prayer for when they aren’t badmouthing them with “kids these days” statements.
You can see more of my t-shirt discoveries in pop culture on my T-Shirts on Screen blog.
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