Baseball star Satchel Paige once said, “Ain’t no man can avoid being born average, but there ain’t no man got to be common.” The Westside Little League All Star team of 2002 took this quote to heart and created one of the most uncommon and phenomenal stories and teams of their lifetimes.
This team inspired so much love and hope in the hearts of their families, friends, and fans that the 2024 movie “You Gotta Believe” practically wrote itself.
The movie is based on the 2002 Westside 12U baseball team’s remarkable run to the Little League World Series and how they rallied behind teammate Robert Ratliff’s dad, Bobby Ratliff (Luke Wilson), who was battling melanoma. The movie follows the team and the Ratliff family through Bobby’s diagnosis, the games and wins on their way to Williamsport, the way a family grew, and the challenges they faced along the way. At its core though, the movie is about family.
“We [the team] were together 24/7…and my brother was always with us, with the team,” Robert Ratliff said.
The story of this 2002 team has impacted people past the baseball diamond though, like the actors who also became a family during the filming process. All the boys remain “brothers” even though some live a continent away.
“As [soon as] we met, we were like brothers. The bond was just there. And on screen you can tell the chemistry. There was no acting there,” Michael Cash, who plays young Robert ‘Rocket’ Ratliff, said.
Many of his castmates backed him up on this, including Gavin MacIver-Wright, who played Mitchell Belew, and Jacob Mazeral, who played Mikey Valdez.
“You Gotta Believe” focused largely on legacy and the impact that one person can have on a large group of people.
“I think the movie is really about legacy and kind of the impermanence that we have on this earth and with [one’s] family. And what’s important [is] the time that is spent with your family,” producer Houston Hill said.
Bobby Ratliff certainly left a legacy, which has impacted the Westside family, the Fort Worth community, and the world, particularly with his widely-used saying, “You Gotta Believe.”
“My dad would say [You Gotta Believe] to us while we were growing up […] It really became a thing when he got sick, because obviously we were nervous and worried. And he would always remind us, ‘Hey boys, you got to believe’, ‘Remember, you got to believe, I’m going to be okay’. And then, obviously, with that [baseball] run, playing all those games, Coach Kelly would say it, my dad would say it, the boys would say it. You Gotta Believe. And it obviously worked out,” Ratliff said.
There were many fortuitous events that got the team to the Little League World Series. First, a highly recruited pitcher from an opposing team left to go play select ball the night before the match up with Westside. Then a rainstorm and a game delay meant that another opponent’s star pitcher would be in-eligible to pitch against Westside
The last game the team played in the Little League World Series semifinals is recognized as the most historic game in little league history, lasting 11 innings. Although Westside lost to end their LLWS run, it is now considered an ESPN Classic.
Wilson stated that his favorite part about working on the movie was being able to play Bobby Ratliff because he was such a “good guy” whose life still impacts many. That sense of hope and belief was carried into the production of the movie. Although some parts of the movie were ‘Hollywoodized’, the most heartwarming and vital moments were left intact.
“The one thing that I told them from the very beginning was that we were making … a movie. We’re not making a documentary. So we’re going to have to combine some things, change some things, but the spirit of the movie will be there,” Hill said.
“[My favorite parts were] my teammates, spending time with my team, not only during the games, but really, just during practice, and, the pool parties at the houses and the wiffle ball in people’s backyards and Backyard Baseball, and the meals together, the spend the nights, just being 12-year-old boys,” Ratliff said.
Another example of the team “just being 12-year-old boys” was their tradition of singing the song “Rawhide”. The tradition was started by Coach Jon Kelly and fellow team dad, Jim Eagle. Kelly started singing it because he felt like the song symbolized their winning streak. The boys loved it and always sang along.
“It was a team tradition and I believe one of the most important things is tradition,” Kelly said.
The film has been years in the making, with Kathy Kelly, one of the team moms and one of the prominent characters in the movie, first trying to get a book written 15 years ago. That didn’t work out. She then spent her time contacting various directors pitching the idea until she met Hill on the set of the 2021 movie “12 Mighty Orphans.” Kelly is a former Fort Worth Country Day mom, whose son Walker Kelly ’07, along with his teammates Patton Eagle ’08 and Robby LeBus ’07, attended FWCD.
The legacy and story of Bobby Ratliff and the 2002 Westside team still continues through the Westside program, Westside All Star Teams, the “You Gotta Believe” movie, and You Gotta Believe sports camps.
“In July of 2007, [my brother and I] had the first ever You Gotta Believe football camp. We had 28 kids there. And from then, it’s just kind of grown every year […] Now we do one football camp in Mississippi, one football camp in Fort Worth, and then one baseball camp in Fort Worth every year,” Ratliff said.
Ratliff also stated that the camp has seen about 3,500 kids in its 17 years of operation. It is something that the family thinks is “pretty awesome” and “pretty fun”, and it all started with 12 boys on a baseball field in 2002 chasing a dream.
