Movie on Bonds’ homer also is a hit

It seems strange, but quite possibly the year’s funniest comedy is a documentary about a baseball. “Up for Grabs” is not about just any sphere, but the one Barry Bonds launched on Oct. 7, 2001, for his record-setting 73rd home run of the season.

The ball landed in the standing-room-only arcade section above the right-field wall at San Francisco’s Pac Bell (now SBC) Park, and a furious scrum erupted. Restaurateur Alex Popov appeared to have caught the ball using his girlfriend’s mitt before being knocked to the ground by the surging mob. However, Patrick Hayashi, another glove-wearing fan, emerged from the pack clutching the keepsake. For nearly two years the pair fought over ownership of the baseball -- which was potentially worth $1 million based on prices for similar memorabilia -- engaging lawyers and producing a story in which the truth becomes more elusive the closer one examines the evidence. Anyone who’s seen the cover literally knocked off a baseball and the ensuing unraveling of string can envision the mess this dispute devolves into.

Michael Wranovics, a former Silicon Valley marketing executive turned aspiring filmmaker, recognized a potential movie when he read a blurb about the incident in the next day’s newspaper. At the time, he saw it as a wonderful little tale playing out in the shadow of the Bay Area’s dot-com bust and supposed new communal empathy in the wake of Sept. 11. Little could he have imagined how entertaining it would turn out to be.

Greed and stubbornness, fueled by a media frenzy, power the film as it follows the litigious trail of the little ball and the delicious reversals that occur as the case goes to trial. The extroverted Popov and reserved Hayashi make for perfect foils in their adversarial roles, one relishing his moment in the spotlight as the plaintiff, the other uneasy being a public figure but steadfastly refusing to relinquish what he believes to be his.

In even the best documentaries, there are times when a filmmaker must wish he had footage of this or that event, but with “Up for Grabs,” Wranovics had the good fortune that a television news cameraman named Josh Keppel had been in position that day in the arcade near “the catch” (or non-catch, depending on whom you believe). His footage, subsequently compared to the Zapruder film and dubbed “the Keppel tape,” becomes integral to the documentary.

Wranovics may have gotten lucky with his access to the wealth of evidence available (much of it contradictory), but he does an assured job of compiling it. Interviews with journalists who covered the trial, led by local TV reporter Wayne Freedman, function as a Greek chorus, slinging zingers back and forth like Borscht Belt comics.

Wranovics also does a nice job leading the audience up to the conflict with a brief history from Roger Maris breaking Babe Ruth’s record in 1961 and Mark McGwire’s 1998 assault on Maris’ tally through Bonds’ season-long charge. Then and now interviews with Sal Durante, who as a 19-year-old caught the Maris ball 40 years earlier, provide the ideal context to show how much things have changed in the world of sports and the world at large.

The debut release of L.A.-based distributor Laemmle/Zeller Films, “Up for Grabs” is a winning combination of humor and crafty filmmaking that cleverly masks the social commentary going on beneath. Wranovics has tweaked and updated the film since it won the audience award for best documentary at last year’s Los Angeles Film Festival, addressing the off-season steroids controversy with the same sly wit and offhandedness that mark the rest of the film. Rather than detracting from it, the recent disclosures and allegations only serve to heighten the surreal nature of the events the documentary depicts.

*

‘Up for Grabs’

MPAA rating: Unrated

Times guidelines: Adults acting like spoiled children

A Laemmle/Zeller Films and Crooked Hook Productions presentation. Writer-producer-director Michael Wranovics. Executive producers Roger Petrie, Chris Parry, Helen Woo. Directors of photography Josh Keppel, Zack Richard. Editors Dave Ciaccio, Michael Wranovics. Running time: 1 hour, 28 minutes.

At Laemmle’s Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (323) 848-3500; Laemmle’s Playhouse 7, 673 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, (626) 844-6500; and Laemmle’s Fallbrook 7, 6731 Fallbrook Ave., West Hills, (818) 340-8710.