Original subtitles

You see?

He's perfect.

He loves trains.

He's kind of a loner himself.

Mark Kidd was a good heart. I'd take heart over brain any day.

The way I see it, we have two choices.

Either we can tell him right now, or we can let him figure it out for himself.

He can figure it out for himself.

Children can see things that grown -ups can't.

And him figuring it out for himself is what's going to make it special for

everybody.

What's his name? Cameron!

Cameron!

Hey, guys.

Guys, excuse me. You were playing catch before with this kid.

He's my son, Cameron.

Remember him? He's a new kid in town.

Good hit. No field.

No, huh?

Okay. Cameron, come on. You can't miss tryouts.

You want another one?

Smells like summer on a bun.

A little ketchup will help that.

Here we go.

Excuse me.

Excuse me.

Do you work here?

I live here.

You know, I've had a few jobs like that before in my life.

I'm Donnie Mancuso. I don't think I caught your name.

I didn't throw it.

Right.

Look, I'm going to be the new coach here, and I've been looking around for

son. He's... Ferdy.

I'm Ferdy.

Ferdy. Great.

Look, uh, Ferdy, I'm looking for my son. His name is Cameron. He was playing

catch with these kids before. I wonder if... Someone named Cameron was three.

Three.

Three! Right, yeah, he was wearing number three. Did you happen to see

went?

Ferdy has gone through his whole life undiagnosed.

No, not exactly.

Most people just call him weird.

Leave it at that.

Well, they can call him weird and they can call him slow.

But God calls Ferdy his.

And he wants us to find him a home and find somebody in this world who can

understand Ferdy's world.

Cameron!

Cameron, there you are. Come on, move it. Let's go.

Grab the bat. Hustle, hustle, hustle.

Let's go. Show them what you got now. Let me get one picture up here, okay?

One pitch and the rest of you guys take a position.

Here we go. Come on, Cam.

Let's go, buddy.

Three bases, then home. Three strikes, then out. Three outs, two a side.

Three squares, nine innings to a game.

When you walk down...

Heavy burden, heavy load I

will rise and I will walk with you I'll

walk with you Till the sun don't even shine Walk with

you Every time I tell you I'll walk with you

Believe me, I'll walk with you.

Somebody

should

have warned that guy.

Yeah, Ferdy.

Sometimes he talks to you, sometimes he treats you like a piece of furniture.

Well, I got Ferdy all figured out. I mean, he is weird. That's beginning,

middle, end of stories.

I mean, why the park even hired him, I don't know. You know, it's always those

guys. They turn out to be perverts.

Oh, he's harmless.

Besides, who else are they going to get to live right next to the field like

that? Well, like I said, weird.

Hi.

You must be the new park director?

Hi, I'm Donnie Mancuso. I'm Tess. Nice to meet you.

Is that your boy?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I got to get him to the batting cage. It's been a little crazy with

and all.

Actually, I'm kind of surprised they let a newcomer coach.

I'm not.

Nobody else would do it again.

This is Monica.

Hi. She's new here, too. I thought she'd be a good match for your assistant

coach. Oh, great.

Donnie.

I'm Andrew. I'm the leading umpire. Hey, when he calls you out, you're out.

Uh,

would you excuse me a sec?

It's a 357.

They've got a gas turbine electric locomotive on the head end of a UP

You like trains?

They don't usually run a gas turbine on the 357.

Because they're running on a diesel electric?

Cam!

Hey, Cam!

Pay attention!

Heads up! Let's go!

Okay, so we've got Danny Batterman playing second base.

Where do we put Cameron?

I tell you, you can cure it. Stop.

Well, we've just had a couple of practices, and Cameron... He's really

improving, don't you think?

Hey, Cameron.

Are you enjoying the new neighborhood?

It's okay.

Hey, Cam, come on over. We're talking baseball.

That's okay.

Hey, did you know there's a branch line in Utah where they cut an 8 ,000 -foot

trench through solid rock?

Just kidding.

Hey, big guy, can't you put that down for a sec?

Look, it's tough moving to a new place, but you're going to make friends here.

I know you will.

Look, you're a great kid, Cam. You just got to get your head out of this book

once in a while.

You want to make friends here, right?

Yeah. Well, baseball is the way to do that.

I mean, you're all on the same team. You play together.

Baseball, Cameron. You're going to get good at it. And that's how kids are

to like you.

Right, Monica?

There's a special friend waiting out there for you, Cameron.

I know it.

Hey, man.

Your dad thinks this is like the major leagues or something. Drugs is way too

hard. Yeah.

So Cicero gets another baseball character.

How about Ferdy with us?

He's pretty creepy.

Hey, you guys know why he lives in that shack, don't you?

Okay,

about a couple years ago, he went on a camping trip with a bunch of people,

16.

He was the only one to come back alive.

Nobody found the bodies, so they couldn't arrest him. He had no place to

So I moved in there.

Hey, my dad says never turn your back on that guy.

Whoa.

Whoa. I know why they couldn't find the bodies.

We came from Akron, and that's where Ferdie came from, too.

He had this pet bow constrictor, and he starved it and starved it.

Didn't feed it for months.

And then he took it with him to the camp out and set it loose in the tent.

The next morning, there was nothing left but some fingernails.

Us?

You can't arrest someone just because of fingernails.

But when the police found out we were moving here, they told us to keep an eye

on Ferdie just in case.

I don't care where he came from.

Too weird to be around here.

Hello, Ferdy.

Oh, I didn't mean to startle you.

You've done a great job with this place.

And you keep it so clean.

Everything in its place.

Six batting helmets to a pyramid and ten baseballs to a pyramid.

I love your poster.

I like trains.

That's a nice wee lamp.

Everything looks lovely.

You're hard to look at.

Huh? You're so shiny.

You see things that most people miss, don't you, Freddy?

Bases stacked in threes.

Home plate is 17 inches wide and 17 inches deep. Don't you, Freddy? Look at

You're very shiny.

Can you see my nose?

I don't see your nose. I just see your shine.

What about my hair? Can you see my hair?

Too shiny.

Too shiny. Too shiny.

Interesting, isn't it?

Yes, he is.

I just hope that Cameron sees him that way, too.

Me, too, because Ferdy's not going to last much longer here.

Hey, guys, what's up? Hey, Cameron. Hey.

Hey,

man. Good to see you, Rick.

Wonder dog.

Okay, what we're going to do, we're going to light this, we're going to run

Ferdy's doorstep, knock on his door, and then run, okay?

Now, when Ferdie comes out and sees a flame, he's going to stomp on it and put

it out. When he puts it out, he's going to step right in.

I don't think we should do that.

Bark, bark, bark, bark.

You scared?

No.

This guy's a murderer.

He deserves this.

Unless your big story about the snake was just a lie.

No way.

All right, then.

Prove it.

You get to do it. Yeah.

Yeah.

You ready?

Yeah. Yeah.

Let's go. Okay.

Come on. Come on, you wimp.

Oh, no.

Oh, no.

Oh, no.

Oh, no.

Oh, no.

Oh, no.

Bertie, they can rebuild this.

Everything can be replaced.

Just don't worry.

Okay, who's going to tell me how this happened?

Ferdy remembers that there was a fire.

He doesn't think that he started it.

Tess, you know, Ferdy's just a little... He's weird. Big time. He probably

started it himself.

We've known this guy a long time.

He's never been violent before. I mean, he's always been nice to me. Yeah, well,

that's what the neighbors always say in the news right after the massacre.

Well, anyway, I've called the shelter and they're coming tonight.

The homeless shelter?

It's not quite a home.

I don't believe that Ferdy is dangerous.

And I'm not so sure that he did start the fire.

What do you think?

I don't know.

Well, at least he'll have a bed at the shelter.

They feed him there, right?

Oh, yes, I'm sure that they do.

But isn't it funny how one little decision can change someone's life

Just one decision changes everything.

Brody, I've got an idea.

He's got nowhere to go. They're going to put him in a shelter.

Look, that's a tough break, Cam. But, I mean, come on. He's a little off for his

age. How do we know he didn't start that fire in the shack himself?

He did, and he wouldn't.

Harvey says he's never done anything dangerous. He says he's nice.

Nice? How do you know he's nice? He knows all about trains, Dad.

He couldn't be that weird.

I mean, couldn't we just put them up until they rebuild the shack?

I don't know, Cam.

We've got room in the basement. It's just temporary.

Please.

Temporary.

Okay.

Bernie!

Guess what?

Here's your bed.

And here's where you can put your stuff.

Well, I don't have any stuff.

We have this, and you'll get some more stuff.

Yeah, stuff.

Lots of stuff.

Yeah, we still haven't even unpacked. I don't even know what all this is.

Hudson 464 locomotive. Yeah.

My mom gave this to me a long time ago.

Your mom is upstairs?

No, she died.

Dad doesn't want me to set up any trains.

He says it's too noisy.

Your mom is dead.

This was my last birthday present from her.

I guess I always liked trains.

That summer, she drove me up to Durango, where they have this narrow -gauge

railroad. It's so cool.

You're 6 ,000 feet up, and there's just a mountain on one side and this big drop

on the other.

Well, 6 ,000 feet is one mile, 720 feet, and there are eight furlongs in a

statute mile.

Man, you're really smart.

An international nautical mile is 6 ,076 feet.

30s.

Ferdie? Hello?

I'm gonna go, alright?

Okay.

Hey, you guys ready for opening day?

This is going to be a long day.

Somewhere there's a river

Looking for a street

Somewhere there's a dreamer.

That her up.

Looking for a dream.

Ken, Ken, let's go. You're up. Come on.

Somewhere there's a dreamer.

Hit the cutoff, man. Next time you miss the cutoff, man, it's ten laps. Let's

go. Here we go.

Okay, come on. Charge it.

Hey, don't forget to feed the buck.

That's a good boy.

Give me that shin guard.

Cam,

don't you want people to like you?

Sure.

Sure you do.

You want to make friends here, right?

I've made a friend.

Cam, see what happened out there today should tell you something.

Ferdy yelled out in the middle of the game.

He's not exactly... What?

Look, I like Fergie.

It's just that... He's a little simple.

I mean, you're a sharp kid. You should be hanging around with winners, heavy

hitters.

He's the only friend I've got.

Hey, did you know Ferdy is still living in their basement?

I mean, what kind of guy would bring a nutcase into the home? Come on, Roger,

we're about to cinch the league.

But Monica even says he's perfectly harmless.

Well, sure, she hasn't got any kids to protect.

Hey, ask me. I mean, Donnie's asking for trouble.

Roger! Are you kidding? That was right down the middle.

Harvey, there's no arguing between balls and strikes. It is not too late to

forfeit this game.

She's all right.

So touchy.

Oh, I like it when he gets all authoritative like that.

Well,

folks, next stop for Donnie Mancuso is the championship.

Hey, don't jinx him. It's not over yet.

How has Ferdy found a home?

No, he hasn't. He's just found a place to stay.

And don't forget, this is not just about finding Ferdy a home.

It's about finding some people who understand him, like a family.

And there's still a lot of work to do.

Guess we're chance, Ferdy.

Where did the stop sign go?

What?

The stop sign.

Where did it go?

Assembly required.

Read all directions before assembly.

One 10 or 220 volt required.

Oh, this is amazing.

Thanks, Bertie.

Bertie, what's with the people?

I mean, you got the engineer right, but you just dumped the rest of the people

around.

Bertie? Did you open these boxes?

Yes.

Bertie, as long as you're a guest in this house, you live by my rules.

And one of them is to stay out of things that don't belong to you.

I mean it.

Then it's on. Let's go.

That's going to kill you if you keep blowing that whistle.

Well, the least you can do is give me some kind of sound when you get like

Are you just concentrating or do you go deaf or something sometimes?

Are you mad at me?

I'm not going to make this easy, are you?

Okay, okay, all right.

I did it.

I helped set the fire. It was stupid.

I just wanted to be one of the guys, you know.

The weird thing is, I ended up being friends with you instead of them

Are you nuts?

Dad! Are you nuts? Look at this!

Bertie, he did not upset you! Bertie!

Bertie! What is the matter with you?

Hank Aaron wore number 44.

He talked.

How can we talk to you and not me?

I have no idea. Listen to me, Bertie.

We've got a real problem here.

And it has to do with you, okay? You don't seem to respect our privacy.

You distract my son during a game. You've got him playing with trains. I

trains. And now, now you are tearing up my house.

Dad, are you just kidding? I don't care.

This happens again, pal, and you're out of here. Do you understand?

Out. But, Dad. No buts. Now get up to bed.

Go.

Ferdie, come into practice.

Hi, Cameron.

I missed you.

Ferdie, what happened last night?

Your father came down and got mad at me.

I know, Ferdie. I was here.

No, you weren't.

I wish you'd been here.

Ferdie, something must be going on.

It's like when I was talking to you during the game, you didn't see the pop

You miss a lot of pop flies, Ferdie.

Time for practice. Let's go.

Don't worry, Freddie.

We'll figure it out.

Start him out with the bunt drill.

Have Danny practice covering first. We missed an out last game because he

get there on time.

Sure. We'll make it fun.

Just make it right. I've got to talk to Tess.

When are they going to start construction on that shack? It's been

Well, it's all this paperwork, all this red tape. I think it's going to take a

long, long time.

Yeah, well, yesterday that guy got violent.

Yeah, I heard he knocked over some things. Did anybody get hurt?

Oh, Ferdy, he must have been scared. Well, you know what? The next time he

scared like that, he's out of my house.

Mr. Mancuso, you've been encouraging Cameron to make friends, but you can't

choose your child's friends for him.

Well, I may not be able to choose them, but you know what? They don't have to

live in my basement.

Well, I think it's a wonderful thing you're doing. And I know in your heart

know it's the right thing to do.

Maybe what's bothering you is that your son enjoys the company of somebody you

don't understand.

Well, I don't know if I want to get to understand this guy.

I'll tell you this.

If he freaks out one more time, he's gone, whether he's got a place to stay

not.

We've got to think of something.

Because my dad, he just doesn't understand.

Can't you be more normal?

I'm afraid dad's going to send you away.

Then what would I do?

I haven't had a friend like you since mom.

Hey, is that a 4040 freight special?

Home.

What?

Home.

Please don't get weird on me now. Don't you see the locomotive I'm pointing to?

Home. You know, Ferdy, you can drive a person crazy, and I'm starting to lose

patience here.

You're doing great, though.

Hey, what are you doing here?

I like trains, too.

So does Ferdy, right?

You shine a lot.

Yeah, yeah.

Does that bother you?

Home.

I remember.

Just ignore him if he doesn't make any sense.

I don't think he does it on purpose.

Actually, it's making a lot of sense to me.

This used to be Ferdy's home.

What?

Ferdy lived in one of these.

See, he never really had a parent.

Never really found anybody until you.

He took the time, had the patience to get to know him.

Ferdy lived in 12 foster homes.

Until one day somebody told him that he was 18 and he had to get out.

So he did.

He walked out of that house and he ended up here in one of these.

Must have been cool. I mean, I've always wanted to live in a bucket car.

No, no. It's not cool.

He almost died.

He didn't have any money. He didn't have any food.

He didn't have any friends.

What happened?

You shine.

Yeah.

And that's where I met Ferdie.

And I had some friends who could get him a job that he could do, a place to

stay, until it burned down.

But I'm glad he's got friends like you now.

Yeah, Ferdie's a good friend.

It's like he never pressures me, he just... Accepts you for who you are?

Yeah. Do you mind if I give you some advice?

Friends are worth fighting for.

Especially friends like Ferdy.

Shine, shine, shine, shine, shine.

Shine, shine, shine.

Shine. Shine, shine, shine.

Shine, shine, shine, shine.

Shine, shine, shine, shine.

Shine.

Okay, come on, eat your breakfast, calf.

You don't want to be hungry for the big game, because we win this game.

You were going to go to school that first day.

And all those people are going to say, hey, there goes Cameron Mancuso, Cicero

Baseball League champ.

Go ahead, eat.

Dad, did you ever have a best friend?

Oh, yeah.

They, um...

You could say your mom was my best friend.

We loved each other a lot, Cameron.

You know, she really knew how to make me laugh.

I tell you, we never missed a cub broadcast. The two of us would sit down

to the radio, listen to Harry Caray.

That was my idea of heaven.

Now that your mom's gone, I have to say that my best friend... You're my best

friend, Cameron, because we both like trains.

Me too, Ferdy. That's great, isn't it, Dad?

Eat. You need all your energy later.

Okay, keep your eye on the ball, Joey!

For 30 years, this has been the sum total of your batting advice, Roger.

your eye on the ball.

That's it.

To a six -year -old, he says it. To Sammy Sosa, he says it. Keep your eye on

ball. There's got to be more to hitting than that, Roger. No, that is it.

That and not being distracted by weirdos.

I'm worried about Ferdy.

I don't think my dad likes him and I don't know what to do.

You can't force your father to like someone.

But maybe you could help him to understand Ferdy.

Hey, Cameron, I brought you some water. Thanks, Ferdie.

Stop it! Stop it! No!

No, no, no!

Stop it! No!

No, no, no, no!

Joey!

Joey! Joey, you okay?

Joey!

He hit me!

Yeah?

Yeah, what were you doing?

Ferdie got upset!

What happened, Ferdie? Hey, get back here.

A boy just got hit because you're not even going to say I'm sorry?

Ferdy?

Nothing to say?

Then get out of here. Just get out of my sight.

No, Dad.

I've had it with him. I told you he was crazy. Now, what did I say? Huh? What

did I say?

Get going now.

Get going.

He's a lunatic.

I mean, who knows? He could come back here with a gun. Now, this guy hit a kid

right in front of all of us. All right, that's enough.

This is it. If you're not going to do something about this, I am. I'm going to

put that guy away where he belongs.

Joey?

Yeah, Felice.

We need an officer over here at the ballpark.

Because the lunatic was calling a kid.

Oh, and it's Cameron. He's been distracted all day.

He's distracted by what that lunatic did.

And the cops are taking their sweet time to get here. Come on, Cameron.

Keep your eye on the ball.

Go, Cameron. Keep your eye on what's really important, Cameron. Please.

Come on, Cameron.

Okay, okay, Cameron. Here we go, buddy. Here we go. Let's go, buddy. Here we

are.

What's going on? Yeah, something bad's going to happen.

Ferdy, I'm... Look, I don't want you thinking about Ferdy. I just want you

thinking about hitting the ball. Now, come on, let's go. Yeah, but if they

arrest him, they won't understand that... Look, forget it.

Ninth inning, two outs. There's nothing to talk about. Now, get up there and

hit. Come on.

Let's go. Here we go. Here we go now.

Come on, Cal. This is the time. Labor!

Back to the only home he's ever known.

Hey, Cap!

Cap! Let's get your head in the game! Come on!

I care about Ferdy.

Trains take you somewhere.

You can get away.

Away from people who don't even try to understand you.

And they can take you to friends like Ferdy.

It doesn't look much like a home, Ferdy.

I lived here before.

I know.

It's too shiny.

Too shiny.

It comes from God.

I'm an angel.

You're an angel.

Yes.

I'm glad I found you, Ferdy.

You deserve a better home.

You don't deserve to be alone like this.

I was alone before.

Then there was Cameron.

Now I'm alone again.

I know.

It's difficult for you to connect.

Autistic people have a hard time with empathy.

I'm autistic.

Yes.

And you're beautiful.

And smart.

And loved.

I'm loved.

Yes.

Ferdy, do you think you could help me?

Could you give Cameron's dad another chance?

He told me to go.

Well, I know he did.

But he wasn't angry at you.

He was mad because you connected with his son and he didn't.

But he'd really like to see you.

So would Cameron.

Okay.

Monica? Why am I, Ferdy?

Why is it so hard for me?

I don't know, Ferdy.

I don't have all the answers.

Only God does.

But the most important answer of all is that he loves you.

Maybe what's hard for you is hard for everyone.

And if people... could really connect with each other the world would be a

better place maybe your job is to remind the world

to connect

Figured what out? I figured out why Ferdie's so weird.

He's not weird. His brain is just different. And he needs help recognizing

Like when I don't have my hat on, he doesn't know it's me.

And when you don't wear your glasses, he doesn't recognize you.

So he eats your bacon because he doesn't know you're there.

And on the train set, only the engineer had a hat. So he was the only person

Ferdie could see.

I know, Cameron. He's got a problem.

He's autistic.

Autistic? No, he's not.

I mean, autistics are those people who live in their own world.

He's high -functioning, but he can get along in this world, just that his brain

processes information differently, and he has a little trouble connecting with

people.

Yeah, well, that's really too bad. Look, I'm sorry, but it still doesn't give

him the right to freak out on my kid.

And it doesn't give you the right to judge him without trying to understand

Well, I still think he's dangerous.

I don't care what you think.

He may be different, but he's my friend. The only thing I know is that you blew

the game. No friend would let you do that. Now, come on. Uh -uh.

This place is Ferdy's home, and I wish it were mine, too.

I'll never play enough baseball to take Mom's place, Dad. If you don't mind, I'm

going to walk back by myself.

Oh, did you know that's a six -engine turbo diesel with a coal extender?

No. Yeah.

No, I didn't know that.

You're asking the right question, darling.

What?

What is the... What's going on? You said you wanted to know what you've done.

And I'm going to tell you.

I'm an angel.

I've come from God with a message for you.

There's a message from an angel.

Am I crazy?

Well, some people say you're crazy about baseball.

But you should be crazy about your wonderful son. And listen to the desire

his heart.

He took the time to see how his friend Ferdy saw the world.

You need to do that for your son right now.

Oh, you're moving a little bit fast from here.

God... God has a message for me.

Yes.

Why? He loves you.

And Cameron. And Ferdy.

And he has a plan that he'd like for you to hear.

Cameron is a marvelous boy, Donald.

He has your energy and ability to just throw himself into whatever interests

him. He's interested in trains.

He got that from his mother.

He got something else from her, too.

A loving spirit.

that recognizes the lost soul and helps it get back on track.

If I recall correctly, she did the same thing for you once.

Yeah.

I've been pretty hard on Bertie.

Funny, sort of jealous of her.

When...

When Cameron's mom died, I didn't know what to do.

If I talked to him about baseball, if I talked to him about anything else, I

think I would have lost it.

God knows I'm trying so hard.

God does know.

Maybe you're trying too hard when all you really have to do is be there.

Tess, when Ferdie said Cameron was his best friend...

I saw Cam's face light up and it just tore up my heart.

And here's this guy I don't even understand and my son likes him more

likes me.

I messed up, Dad.

I'm a lousy dad. I don't know how to do it.

Now you listen to me.

You don't have to do it perfectly.

Love Cameron for who he is.

Not for who you want him to be.

Cameron will never like baseball.

But he'll always love you.

ask you to forgive me.

Um, I brought someone with me, but, um, you're

gonna need this.

Forty!

Hi, Cameron.

For all my plane schedules.

Forty.

Then we change at United for the Flyer to Oneonta.

And then we'll catch the 933 to Cooperstown.

Hey, how do you like that?

A train to the Baseball Hall of Fame. I think this might just work out.

Look, all the tiny little men are in the right place.

Sure. They're all wearing hats.

There's nothing like a hat.

All aboard.

Next stop, Cooperstown.