Rangers spotlight: Chi Chi likes grooves of Hardball soundtrack

Rangers pitcher Chi Chi Gonzalez will throw you curve ball when it comes to his favorite sports film. He calls Hardball, the 2001 comedy/drama starring Keanu Reeves and Diane Lane, his favorite sports movie. Reeves plays a shady ticket scalper who agrees to coach a Little League team from a Chicago housing project as a condition for a loan from a friend. Hey, guess what? The team of misfits comes together to win a title, or something.

“It’s in the hood, I guess, and he just brings a bunch of ball players together that had bad backgrounds and they come together to make a team,” Gonzalez said, who was nine when the team movie was released in September 2001.

Gonzalez was drawn to the soundtrack, which was stacked with heavy hitters such as Lil Wayne, The Notorious B.I.G. and R. Kelly.

“I’m a real hip-hop/rap guy so I like that soundtrack,” he said. “That was the first original baseball movie that I watched on my own.

This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 6:13 PM with the headline "Rangers spotlight: Chi Chi likes grooves of Hardball soundtrack."