Another season of baseball is here. This year I celebrated by starting the rebuild of my baseball movie collection.

I had quite a stock pile back in the VCR days.

One of my favorite baseball movies, and the one I grabbed on DVD first in time for this baseball season is “The Scout” starring Albert Brooks, Brendan Fraser and Dianne Wiest.

This movie, from 1994, has a strong supporting cast that includes: Bob Costas, George Steinbrenner, Steve Garvey, Tim McCarver, Bret Saberhagen, Keith Hernandez, Ozzie Smith and Tony Bennett — all playing themselves.

Brooks, who co-wrote the screenplay, plays New York Yankees scout Al Percolo who is banished to Mexico because of a bad, but hilarious signing experience — a pitcher who was a little too green for the majors, literally. He throws up on the mound then runs home to mom and dad.

In Mexico, Percolo finds Steve Nebraska, played by Fraser, who is the greatest baseball player who ever lived. He can pitch and hit. The only problem is he’s a little disturbed emotionally and with the help of psychiatrist Dr. H. Aaron, played by Wiest, the race is on to get him settled down before his pitching debut in the World Series.

This movie is a hoot. When Percolo is trying to convince a young baseball hopeful’s parents to let their son play in the majors instead of going to college, Lou Gehrig’s name comes up.

The Mom says, ‘didn’t he have a disease?’

Percolo says, ‘yes but he didn’t get it from baseball. I believe he got it in college.’

There’s also talk, as you can imagine, of George Steinbrenner between Percolo and Nebraska and Billy Martin’s name pops up.

‘Who’s Billy Martin?’ Nebraska asks.

‘Just some guy he kept firing until he finally died,’ Percolo explains.

If you go baseball movie shopping I recommend these other films, too — but be warned, the funny thing about baseball movies is, they’re never really about baseball:

Bang the Drum Slowly, 1973

The Natural, 1984

The Pride of the Yankees, 1942

A League of Their Own, 1992

Damn Yankees, 1958

Cobb, 1994

Bull Durham, 1988

The Sandlot, 1993

Major League, 1989

Field of Dreams, 1989

The Babe Ruth Story, 1948

Fear Strikes Out, 1957

Bad News Bears, 1976/2005



For those with more interactive tastes, ‘‘MLB ’06: The Show,’’ for Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable has just been released.

Rated E, the Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. production is priced at $39.99.

The game includes modes for exhibition, season play, a home-run derby and more. You pick the teams, the stadiums, trade players, and you can even kick a little dirt while arguing with an umpire. The only thing missing is the steroids.