Final film directed by Hugh Wilson. It is also Wilson's only drama feature film he directed (his previous directed films were all comedies).
The hair of Harry Connick Jr. and Shawn Salinas was lightened for their early scenes as Tripp and Derrick and was returned more to their natural color when they played Glen and Mickey.
After shooting the Little League World Series portion of the film in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in 2001, a camera crew went back to Williamsport during that year's actual Little League World Series to get cover shots of the pageantry, of the large crowds, and some of the baseball action. In an example of life imitating art, not only did Danny Almonte, pitching for his Little League team from the Bronx, throw the first Little League World Series perfect game since 1957, but weeks after the series he was revealed to actually have been 14 years old.
Hugh Wilson mentions that the scene in the Williamsport police station of the father and son having to say their goodbyes was the final scene in the script. But showing the film to movie executives, distributors, and test audiences kept resulting in feedback that the film was too much of a downer, so a year after their wrap, the additional postscript scene was shot outside a prison in California, by which time the three lead boys had gotten much bigger and Shawn Salinas was bleaching his hair blonde.
Both John Grisham and Hugh Wilson wanted the three principal boys to be good baseball players and sent two casting scouts to Little League franchises across the United States. Shawn Salinas was found in Los Angeles and came to Richmond to read for John and Hugh. Then John and Shawn went to the parking lot with gloves and a ball where John asked Shawn to show him his fast ball. Hugh says Shawn was hired in the parking lot throwing serious heat to John.