Up For Grabs (2005 film)
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Up for Grabs is a comedic documentary about two grown men who fought over custody of a baseball.
The ball happened to be the one hit by San Francisco Giants slugger, Barry Bonds, for his record-setting 73rd home run at the end of the 2001 MLB season. When the ball landed in the right-field bleachers at what was then Pac Bell Park (San Francisco), there was a mad scramble for the precious ball, bodies piled up on the walkway above McCovey Cove. Patrick Hayashi, who stood quietly with a sheepish grin on his face as the scrum continued, eventually held the historic ball up for a TV camera to reveal that he had possession of it. MLB and Giants security grabbed Mr. Hayashi and escorted him down to the bowels of the ballpark (as if they were moving the President) and authenticated his baseball as the true #73.
As Patrick prepared to be the next Bay Area millionaire, a man named Alex Popov, owner of Smart Alec's restaurant in Berkeley, CA, was complaining loudly that he had caught the ball on the fly and that Patrick had stolen the ball from him at the bottom of the pile. Video footage shot by KNTV news cameraman, Josh Keppel, did actually show the ball land in Mr. Popov's glove, providing the key evidence that led to a trial in San Francisco Superior Court.
While the 88-minute film does tell the story from the moment the ball leaves Barry Bonds' bat all the way through the trial and to the dramatic auction where the ball was finally sold to the highest bidder, the film turns out to be more of a satire than a serious examination of what actually happened and who ultimately deserved the ball. Inspired by the mockumentary films of Christopher Guest (Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, etc.), Up for Grabs focuses on an oddly colorful cast of characters who are perhaps taking a trivial matter a little too seriously.
Up for Grabs won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2004 Los Angeles Film Festival, plus Best Documentary at the Gen Art Film Festival (New York) and the Phoenix Film Festival. Its Rotten Tomatoes critical "Fresh" rating is 92%
Directed and Produced by Michael Wranovics (his first film) Co-Produced by Michael Lindenberger and Josh Keppel Co-Edited by Dave Ciaccio Executive Producers: Dr. Roger Petrie, Helen Woo, and Christopher Parry
MLB Advanced Media is releasing the DVD during the 2007 MLB season.
