In Gentryville, Indiana, Elmer Kane is well-known as a home run hitting baseball player. Bull McWade, representing the Chicago Cubs, the new owners of Elmer’s contract, arrives in town to bring Elmer to Chicago, but he refuses to go because he doesn’t want to be separated from Nellie Poole, his boss and the woman he loves. After she pretends that she doesn’t love him, however, he signs the contract. Although the other players on the team think of Elmer as a hick and tease him unmercifully, he wins their respect when they see him hit. The team makes it to the World Series, and everything looks good until Elmer starts to gamble. Naive Elmer thinks the gambling chips are free, and by the time he finds out the truth, he is $5,000 in debt. The gangsters who run the club have bet on the Series, so they agree to rip up the I.O.U. if Elmer throws the game. This makes Elmer mad and he lands in jail, where Nellie finds him and pays his bail. Still thinking that Nellie doesn’t love him, Elmer agrees to throw the game in order to return the bail money to her, but changes his mind when she reveals her true feelings. Furious, the gangsters try to convince the team’s owners that Elmer shouldn’t play, but finally everything is straightened out, and Elmer hits the winning home run. Elmer, the hero, is asked to talk on the radio, and he proposes to Nellie on the air. More on Wikipedia
Watch Elmer, the Great (1933)
