Rangers spotlight: Inspirational Tony Beasley inspired by true story in ‘Woodlawn’

Rangers third base coach Tony Beasley is a very spiritual person. His Christian faith, along with baseball, has helped him handle the rigors of chemotherapy he’s currently enduring for rectal cancer.

The power of faith that Beasley feels is expressed wonderfully in the new film Woodlawn. It’s the true story behind the desegregated Woodlawn High School in Birmingham, Ala., in 1973. It was released in October and stars Caleb Castille as Tony Nathan, who starred at Alabama and was an All-Pro running back for the Miami Dolphins.

“It’s a scripture-based film about two athletes, one black, one white, from rival high schools and how faith brought everything together,” Beasley said. “[Black athletes thought] you could never play at Alabama. Both of them went to the University of Alabama.”

For baseball films, Beasley still considers Robert Redford’s Roy Hobbs character in The Natural as the tops, followed closely by Field of Dreams.

“That’s the one that comes to mind. I thought that was a throwback scenario, the [Wonderboy] bat, it was a classic for me.”

This story was originally published March 9, 2016 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Rangers spotlight: Inspirational Tony Beasley inspired by true story in ‘Woodlawn’."