Private Project

Fielding Dreams: A Celebration of Baseball Scouts

Fielding Dreams documents up close the men and women searching for the ballplayers of tomorrow. Director H. James Gilmore goes beyond the Moneyball mindset and features dozens of interviews with some of the scouting legends of the game, including five who helped build the 2023 World Series Champion Texas Rangers.

Traveling from Michigan to Florida, Illinois to Texas, and Georgia to Puerto Rico, Gilmore and producer Tracy Halcomb interviewed scouts over a four-year period against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic. What follows is an intimate profile of a uniquely American profession - a profession now under threat from biometrics, analytics and the big business that rules the game.

Narrated by former MLB pitcher Jerry Blevins.

  • H James Gilmore
    Director
    Cracking Aces: A Woman's Place at the Table, Men at Work: Voices from Detroit's Underground Economy, Chronicle of an American Suburb
  • Tracy Halcomb
    Producer
    Cracking Aces: A Woman's Place at the Table
  • Jerry Blevins
    Narrator
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Genres:
    sports, american culture
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 27 minutes 45 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 1, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    25,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    4K Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.85:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum
    Cooperstown, NY
    United States
    January 18, 2024
    Special Screening
  • Sarasota Film Festival
    Sarasota, FL
    United States
    April 11, 2024
    World Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Seattle Film Festival
    Seattle
    United States
    June 12, 2024
    Washington State Premiere
    Winner: Best Sports Documentary Feature Film
  • Glendale International Film Festival
    Glendale, CA
    United States
    September 28, 2024
    California Premiere
    Nomination - Best Documentary
  • Louisville International Festival of Film
    Louisville, KY
    United States
    October 11, 2024
    Midwest Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Las Vegas International Film & Screenwriting Festival 2024
    Las Vegas, NV
    United States
    October 30, 2024
    Audience Choice Award and Best Sport Feature
  • Sports Movies & TV 2024 - Milano International FICTS Fest
    Milan
    Italy
    November 8, 2024
    International Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Ft Lauderdale International Film Festival
    Ft Lauderdale, FL
    United States
    November 14, 2024
    Official Selection
  • International Sport Film Festival
    Naples
    Italy
    November 25, 2024
    Official Selection
  • Paladino d'Oro Sport Film Festival
    Palermo
    Italy
    December 13, 2024
    Finalist
  • Saint Augustine Film Festival
    St Augustine, FL
    United States
    January 10, 2025
    Official Selection
  • Telly Awards

    United States
    Silver Telly/Documentary Feature
  • IndieFest Film Awards

    United States
    Award of Excellence/Documentary Feature
Director Biography - H James Gilmore

H. James Gilmore is a documentary filmmaker who focuses on history and culture, including: the transformation of suburban America (CHRONICLE OF AN AMERICAN SUBURB, 2002); the economic collapse of Detroit (MEN AT WORK: VOICES FROM DETROIT'S UNDERGROUND ECONOMY, 2012); and the amazing women who broke through the glass ceiling of professional poker (CRACKING ACES: A WOMAN'S PLACE AT THE TABLE, 2018).

Gilmore has worked for a number of broadcast organizations, including The Christian Science Monitor and New Hampshire Public Television. Since 1995 he has been the executive producer of Acadia Pictures, an independent documentary production company based in southwest Michigan. A retired Clinical Professor of Journalism and Screen Studies at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Gilmore is currently Professor and Visiting Filmmaker of Cinematic Arts at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Fla.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

My cousin is a scout for the Texas Rangers. During family gatherings he would regale us with amazing stories of his life in baseball, and he offered to introduce me to the world of scouting. And that's how FIELDING DREAMS was born. Little did my producing partner Tracy Halcomb and I know that COVID would turn the world of baseball upside down, and our one-year project would expand to four. I am proud to preserve--and present-- a slice of this uniquely American profession.