Kevin Costner Once Faced Off Against TCU AD in Yankees-Tigers Showdown

Mike Buddie, the director of athletics at TCU, has a uniquely colorful career that sets him apart from many in his position. Not only is he one of the rare power conference athletic directors who played a major league sport, but he also had a brief stint as a Hollywood actor. Buddie appeared as a Yankees pitcher in the 1999 film For Love of the Game, starring Kevin Costner and John C. Reilly.

“I had to join the Screen Actors Guild for the role,” Buddie shared during a recent interview in his office. “We filmed for seven weeks, but I was only on screen for about two seconds. Still, I get a small residual check every year — around $60. I’m still making money from it!”

Buddie’s professional baseball career spanned 12 seasons, including five in the Major Leagues. He pitched as a reliever for the New York Yankees during the 1997 and 1998 seasons and finished his career with the Milwaukee Brewers. Fortunately, he earned a World Series ring with the Yankees in 1998 — the same year the team was involved in filming another Kevin Costner baseball movie.

How Mike Buddie Became a Hollywood Pitcher

During the 1998 postseason, Buddie served as the Yankees’ first alternate pitcher. He stayed at their spring training complex in Tampa, Florida, pitching in simulations, ready to replace any injured pitcher. Luckily, no injuries occurred. While watching the Yankees’ World Series victory from a Tampa sports bar, Buddie was asked to share a room with rookie pitcher Ryan Bradley, who was drafted in the first round that year.

Bradley was offered a role in the movie, but due to a scheduling conflict with his wedding, he had to decline. Buddie, who also was a right-handed pitcher like Bradley and a Yankee, stepped in and submitted a headshot — which was actually just a baseball card. After the World Series concluded, Buddie’s agent informed him that filming would begin the next day, and they put him up at the Waldorf Astoria hotel for seven weeks.

Making For Love of the Game

Every morning, a van transported Buddie and some teammates to Yankee Stadium for filming. In the movie, Buddie portrayed the Yankees’ Cy Young-caliber starting pitcher going head-to-head against Costner’s character, veteran Detroit Tigers pitcher Billy Chapel.

Buddie quickly realized that filming was far less glamorous than watching a baseball game. “It was supposed to be September in the film, but we were shooting in mid-November in New York. We wore short sleeves in the cold, and my shoulder started to ache,” he said. “Some days we would jog on and off the field, and other days we’d just wait around for the right sky lighting.”

The hardest part wasn’t the cold or the waiting — it was pitching to John C. Reilly, who played Costner’s catcher. “I had to throw pitches aimed at his bat without actually hitting him,” Buddie recalled. “John was a great guy but not very athletic, so he was scared to swing. We had to reassure him that I’d throw slow and controlled pitches right down the middle or the outside edge of the plate. He just had to swing.”

Acting and sports rarely overlap perfectly. “Actors tend to come from backgrounds where they weren’t very coordinated or interested in sports,” Buddie said. “John would step back awkwardly, but I understood — it was his first time doing something like that at age 38 after studying acting at Juilliard or wherever.”

Kevin Costner, on the other hand, was a natural athlete who convincingly handled baseball bats and golf clubs alike. “He treated me very well,” Buddie said. “One filming rule was that only actual major league players could enter the Yankees’ clubhouse. Costner was allowed in to use the training room, and we spent a lot of time together. He’d often ask me how a real pitcher would hold a slider or how a major leaguer would act in certain situations.”

In the film’s climax, Costner’s character pitches a perfect game while Buddie’s character takes the loss. When asked about his favorite baseball movies, Buddie was honest: “The most accurate baseball movie is Bull Durham, but the one I enjoy the most is Major League. It’s definitely not For Love of the Game.”

Maybe he’d feel differently if he’d been on screen a bit longer.