Tuning In

Modine’s new ’Season’

When Matthew Modine signed on to play Honus Wagner in TNT’s new telepicture “The Winning Season,” he considered asking help from either the New York Yankees or Mets rosters.

“Once I knew I had to get in baseball shape, I thought, ’Who embodies the kind of character that this man represents?” the actor asks.

Good thing Mr. Modine had previously met Cal Ripken Jr. and felt comfortable enough to approach the future Hall of Famer for some impromptu lessons.

Mr. Ripken was “a modern-day Honus Wagner,” said Mr. Modine, who plays the Pittsburgh Pirates great in the new film, which premieres at 8 p.m. Sunday on TNT.

“I called him and told him what I was doing. I asked to pick his brain,” he recalls. Mr. Ripken told him, “Why don’t you come out and play?”

So the actor visited Mr. Ripken’s training facility in Aberdeen, Md. and learned at the master’s feet.

“I just went and suited up with the guys and went to practice and ate with them … . I listened and watched,” Mr. Modine says of his spell alongside Mr. Ripken’s IronBirds minor league squad.

He picked up some diamond minutiae that helped shape his performance, like how ballplayers notice the little things — from a batter’s exact stance to how far they plant their feet apart in the field.

In “The Winning Season,” young Joe Soshack is a struggling Little Leaguer in 1980s-era Pittsburgh who one day gets transported to Honus Wagner’s era at the turn of the 20th century via a magical baseball card. The youngster, inexplicably now a young man, meets his baseball hero as well as Mr. Wagner’s fiancee, Mandy, played by “Sex and the City’s” Kristin Davis. Mandy isn’t sold on a baseball player’s unsavory life — an irony, since Mr. Wagner is remembered as among the most morally upright players of his or any era.

It’s up to Joe (Shawn Hatosy plays the adult Joe) to help Mr. Wagner win his fiancee’s heart and remain a force on the field.

Mr. Modine got a crash course in all things Honus. The Pirates slugger got his unique batting grip — hands positioned several inches apart — from his days swinging a pickax in the coal mines, Mr. Modine says.

“You get so much more momentum when you split your grip,” he says, which helped because some of the players wielded much heavier bats than today’s stars use.

“That bat was like swinging a log,” says Mr. Modine.

Quick draw

TV Guide Online

HBO has renewed “Deadwood” for a second season after just two episodes on the air.

The Western drama drew a record 5.8 million viewers for its March 21 premiere. In its second outing last Sunday, it dropped off to a still-solid 4.9 million viewers.

The program airs Sunday evenings at 10.

Compiled by Christian Toto and Robyn-Denise Yourse from staff and wire reports.