Many of the game scenes were shot at Engel Stadium (former home of the Chattanooga Lookouts) in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Engel opened in 1930. Parts of "42," the movie about legend Jackie Robinson, were filmed there as well.
A "makeshift" baseball field (where Pete would have played with his friends from his town) and what appears to be the entrance to a coal mine were constructed by the film crew in a quarry near South Pittsburg, Tennessee. The town of South Pittsburg itself was featured in a parade scene.
Unlike many sports movies, this film worked hard to get the vast majority of the details correct. A couple of variants include that Pete's sisters are not shown and that his much anticipated first appearance in Yankee Stadium occurred early in the season, not after the All Star Game as indicated in the film.
In 1944, the year before Pete joined the team, the long-awful St. Louis Browns had won their only pennant. After 1953 the Browns left St. Louis to become the Baltimore Orioles.
The newsreel shown after Pete joins the Browns features brief footage of the real Pete Gray making a play in the outfield.
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