Documentary Review: “The Saint of Second Chances” Provides Veeck Family’s Story Of Redemption
Image credit: Mike Veeck, pres. of Miracle, a minor-league baseball team, looking through net at batting cage as he watches his team during batting practice at Pompano Municipal Stadium. (Photo by Acey Harper/Getty Images)
One of the best baseball biographies of all time is “Veeck As In Wreck.” Bill Veeck’s autobiography told the story of his renegade approach to running major league baseball teams.
Mike Veeck is Bill’s son. And like Bill, he has spent much of his life in baseball. And with the new Netflix documentary, “The Saint of Second Chances,” another generation of Veecks have been commemorated.
Mike Veeck’s story has been given an entertaining treatment, offering a useful story of his path to ruin and redemption.
The stories of the Veecks are unavoidably entangled. Bill Veeck bought the White Sox in 1975, marking a return to the game for one of the major leagues’ most unconventional operators.
Bill brought his son Mike along with him.
Mike Veeck was the mastermind behind the Chicago White Sox’s “Disco Demolition Night” that proved to be one of the most disastrous promotions of all time.
When thousands of fans roamed the fields as the second game of that night’s doubleheader was forfeited, it set into motion the end of Bill Veeck’s time as a MLB owner. He soon sold the team to Jerry Reinsdorf. Mike Veeck went from running promotions for a major league team to being a baseball pariah.
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Obviously, the story does not end there. This is a documentary, and as such, it presents a cohesive story of rebirth and redemption, marking Mike Veeck’s return to baseball.
Because it’s a documentary, it’s also a simplified story. Creating a narrative requires leaving key people unmentioned and leaving out notable moments.
Whole chunks of Mike Veeck’s story are left on the cutting room floor. A segment on Veeck’s return to baseball leaves his actual return with the Miami Miracle untouched, even though Veeck’s time with the Miracle was truly fascinating. They were a successful independent league team operating inside affiliated baseball in the Florida State League, and the success of the Miracle set the stage for his move to St. Paul and independent baseball.
Similarly (and understandably) many of the other key figures in the success of the Saints and Veeck’s other MiLB operations are largely sidelined. This is a story of the Veeck family, which means anything that doesn’t tie directly to that storyline has been hacked away. It may mean that it doesn’t tell the full story of the Saints or the RiverDogs’ success, but it does ensure that this is a relatively tight, entertaining documentary that is paced well.
The challenge of any documentary is to figure out how to portray key moments that weren’t captured on film. “The Saint of Second Chances” opts to recreate those moments. Charlie Day of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” fame plays Veeck with Mike Veeck actually playing his own father. It works, and provides much needed visuals for events that otherwise would be just an endless stream of talking heads.
The documentary is notably an “MLB Studios” production. MLB has been more directly involved in facilitating and producing movies and other projects with a clear baseball tie-in. In the case of “The Saint of Second Chances,” the documentary is full of archival MLB footage.
This is a story that I’m probably too closely connected to as someone who has covered the Saints and independent ball for two decades. But even for me, there were enough emotional moments to have the documentary resonate. For most baseball fans, much of this story will be brand new, and as such, it will be an excellent documentary to add to your watchlist.
