The Saint of Second Chances is the latest documentary film released on Netflix on September 19, 2023. It is directed by Oscar winner Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom) and Jeff Malmberg (Marwencol). Produced by Neville, Danny Breen and Jon Berg. It has a runtime of about 1 hour and 34 minutes.
The narration for the documentary is done by Jeff Daniels, while Charlie Day plays the role of Mike Veeck in the re-enacted scenes. It also features Mike Veeck, Night Train Veeck, Libby Veeck, Dave Dombroski, Bob Chicoine, Dan Barreiro, Annie Huidekoper, Ila Borders, Don Wardlow, Darryl Strawberry, Dave Stevens and others.
The Saint of Second Chances Review
The documentary starts off on the note of how much Mike Veeck’s dad, Bill Veeck, influenced him and his passion for Baseball. Bill Veeck was a legendary MLB franchise owner and made a name for himself for showstopping ballpark stunts including giveaways, exploding scoreboards, and even luxury suites at stadiums or sky box was the Veeck family’s creation.
Mike grew up under his shadow and for most of his youth, he wanted to create a base of his own. His hustler mentality with a creative vision really did pull the crowds to their games and their wacky, updated-with-the-trends marketing was the USP. However, just when Mike thought that his family name would be taken along with the best figures in history, everything riotously came crashing down.
On July 12, 1979, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, when the Disco music genre was gaining momentum, Mike decided to ride the popularity by announcing a discounted admission to the game, if you brought a disco record. On the other hand, to fill in the ten thousand of seats, he also indulged Steve Dahl in the promotion, who was known for his anti-disco campaign. As part of the promotions, Dahl urged his radio listeners to show up as he would light up a bunch of disco vinyl records, in the middle of the game.
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The game between the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers is now known as – Disco Demolition Night. Because a large number of crowd turned up at Comisky Park and as soon as collected bunch of vinyls blew up in fire, the crowd came swarming the ground and destroying everything in the way. Also destroying Veeck’s mainstream career in Baseball leagues.
And that’s when Veeck’s journey with second chances and showing faith in people who have been shunned from everywhere started. Restarting his career by becoming the manager of an independent league, the St. Paul Saints, the documentary re-enacts his journey from the ashes to standing tall.
Listening to his life story from his own mouth, one can notice that he lived a life full of fun, creativity and strong family values. He made the decisions he seemed right and learnt from his mistakes when it didn’t go as planned. The film goes a step beyond his career aspirations and delves into his personal life – most importantly, the emotional relationship with his late daughter Rebecca.
In a way, his life sounds perfect for a feature film where a man with creative aspirations finds fame and glory, falls to the bottom, reclaims his lost family legacy and eventually finds peace in the simplest of things in life. Coming quite close to living life to the fullest and also influencing people around. Overall, it’s an entertaining and heartwarming documentary to watch.
Rating: 3.5/5
The Saint of Second Chances is available for streaming on Netflix.
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