"Nice catch, Hayes. Don't ever f*ckin' do it again."

Those were among the immortal words of Lou Brown, the manager in the all-time classic Major League, easily one of my favorite films of all time. I bring them to you because, sadly, the actor who uttered them, James Gammon, is no longer with us. (I'm a little late on this, thanks to vacation, but odds are it slipped under the radar anyway.)

Brown, as portrayed by Gammon, was a brilliant mixture of deadpan and fire. When he takes a tirade from Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughan, miffed over his incorrect belief that Brown cut him, Gammon barely moved from his chair. But when he had the showdown moment with the evil Rachel Phelps -- nude, even -- his passion for the game, and his ragtag team, was inspiring.

Characters like this made the movie, and Gammon's Brown was a quintessential baseball lifer. He'd seen enough ball to be stoic about it but still had the passion for the game. And he was funny as hell.

I got a fresh copy of Major League for my birthday (on Blu-Ray, no less) and I think I'm going to have to watch it ASAP as a tribute to James Gammon.