Baseball lifer to hit big screen; Hull producer eyes life of Rox skipper
By Mike Loftus, The Patriot Ledger, 7/3/2003

BROCKTON - Julie Campbell recently bought something she'll probably never be able to use up completely, and she thinks she got a great deal.

Campbell, an independent film producer who lives in Hull, turned the idea of making a movie about a minor league manager into ownership of the screen rights to the colorful baseball life and times of Brockton Rox manager Ed Nottle.

Campbell, therefore, isn't limited to tales of the Nottle who manages the Rox and coaches third base when they're at bat, who hasn't turned down a speaking invitation or charitable requests (and won't let his players, either) since arriving in Brockton last year to manage and promote the first-year Rox, and who'll climb aboard a float and sing in this city's annual holiday parade. She can also get into the chapters about his pitching career, his years as a manager at virtually every pro level below major league baseball since 1977, and, of course, the album."

In 1983 and a coach with the Oakland A's, Nottle produced and recorded (on his own Nott's Landing" label) an album that included his versions of songs such as New York, New York," Send In the Clowns" and You Were Always On My Mind."

We lost our house over it," Nottle said yesterday at a luncheon to announce his deal with Campbell's Mark Campbell Productions (the company is named after Campbell's late brother). I didn't think it was a big deal, either.

Finally, some years later, my wife (Patty) threw thirty-five hundred albums in the dump ... just so she could park the car. The funniest thing is, for years I kept saying If that ticked you off, wait'll you see the movie.' Well, here it comes."

Not for a while, though. Campbell, a baseball fan who was born in Maine and moved to Mansfield before settling in Hull, has lined up a director and writer for the screenplay, but there is no script yet, and no roles have been cast.

We're looking at a two-year time frame, from writing the screenplay, casting, location scouting, filming, and then post-production and release," she said. Once the screenplay is complete, we then go out and get the financing to make the film. We're sort of hoping to keep it independent because we have more creative control that way."

The next step for the project (tentatively titled I'm Still Standing: The True-Life Story of Singing Ed Nottle) involves the research and writing of a script. Eugene Corr, who has written and/or helped direct several sports-themed movies (including Bull Durham" and Cobb"), will spend a couple of weeks early next month tailing Nottle and the Rox, home and away, before returning to his California home to write the screenplay.

As Campbell envisions it, however, the film won't focus solely on Nottle's experiences in helping the Rox off the ground. His up-and-down career in the pro game, which began with an unsuccessful tryout with Pittsburgh in 1959, is filled with successes (he has been named Manager of the Year at the Triple-A, Double-A and Independent levels), but is not without gut-wrenching near-misses - and he has promised Campbell he won't gloss over the tough times he has spent, on and off the field.

I was the last (pitcher) cut, two times," Nottle said yesterday. Do you know what that's like, in a 16-team league (the majors, pre-expansion), when you're the 25th guy two years in a row? Then I got into managing. I was a pretty successful manager, and I came pretty close (to getting) in Oakland, and really close in Boston. (Nottle, then managing the Pawtucket Red Sox, lost out to Joe Morgan after Boston fired John McNamara in 1988). I didn't get that, either."

Nottle, stubborn in his desire to manage, but not coach any longer in the big leagues, found himself out of organized baseball in 1991 and '92, but resurfaced in the independent Northern League in '93. He has been an immensely accessible and popular fixture on the Independent scene ever since, but not without asking some to pay a price.

When I turned down (major league) coaching jobs, I took away things that people who love their families shouldn't take away," Nottle said in one of yesterday's many emotional moments. I took away pensions. I took away things that would have made their lives so much better. I've never been able to forgive myself for that."

Agreeing to sell the rights to his story, he hopes, is a way to give a little more back to his wife, children and grandchildren.

It was up to Ed if he was just going to act as a paid consultant, let my guys go on the bus and take their notes, and then go away," Campbell said. But as we met, and spent more time together, more things came out - some very colorful stories about his career. I said You know, the movie would be more interesting if we just based it on you,' and he said I'm not opposed to it."'

New York-based director Peter Carlos Masterson (his father was an actor and director, his mother an actress, and his sister, Mary Stuart Masterson, played a lead role in his directorial debut, West of Here"), who saw his first Rox game last night, was even more anxious to see a script after listening yesterday to Nottle.

I start watering at the mouth, quite frankly," Masterson said. Julie and I originally wanted to build our story around a minor-league manager. I started asking people I knew in New York, in the sports community, and they all just dropped their jaws: Ed Nottle! And he sings, too! Did you know he sings?'

He's just a perfect character to build a film around. Put together properly in an hour and a half could be really interesting - really funny, and really endearing."

Mike Loftus may be reached at mloftus@ledger.com.

Copyright 2003 The Patriot Ledger Transmitted Thursday, July 03, 2003