We all probably know about the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. It posits that Kevin Bacon is the center of the Hollywood universe, and that basically any actor is within seven movies of him. Technically, this isn’t true: Dennis Hopper is the “center” of the IMDB database, at least when you only count movies. However, you get the idea, and it gives us a good example of how the Degrees of Bacon works:

Dennis Hopper was in Cannes Man with Lloyd Kaufman, who was in Super with Kevin Bacon, thus Dennis Hopper’s Bacon Number is 2.

But what does this have to do with baseball? Well, you see, throughout history, baseball players have had some roles in movies. So let’s see how many degrees of Kevin Bacon baseball players are after the jump. As you’ll see they usually don’t need to travel far, although I’m sure I’ll be able to find something that is relatively far away from Bacon, right? Right?

Babe Ruth

Ruth was one of the first transcendent sports stars, a player who was known even by those who don’t follow the sport. Lebron James, Peyton Manning and Derek Jeter all can be traced, in some ways, back to Babe Ruth. So it isn’t surprising that Ruth had something of a movie career, appearing in nine films (four of them feature length), most notably appearance as himself in Pride of the Yankees. So how many degrees is the Great Bambino from the star of Footloose?

Well, he’s only three from Bacon. You see, Ruth was in Pride of the Yankees with Dane Clark, who was in Last Rites with Paul Dooley who was in Telling Lies in America with… Kevin Bacon.

Ken Griffey Jr.

Griffey made cameo appearances in a few baseball movies over his career, but most notably in Little Big League, the tale of a young boy who is given ownership of the Minnesota Twins and then promptly puts himself in as manager (note: This couldn’t happen in real life, not because he’s 12, but because of the “Ted Turner rule”) and would have gotten the Twins to the pennant if not for Griffey making a spectacular catch robbing a game-winning home run.

It is from Little Big League that Griffey is connected to Bacon, as Wolfgang Bodison was in that movie, and he was in A Few Good Men with Kevin Bacon. Degree of two.

Jackie Robinson

The man who integrated modern baseball played himself in a 1950 biopic, which also had Ruby Dee, who was in Red & Blue Marbles with William Sadler, who was in Beyond All Boundaries with… Kevin Bacon. Three.

Roger Clemens

Played an opposing pitcher in Cobb, which starred Tommy Lee Jones, who was in JFK with Kevin Bacon. Number of two.

Derek Jeter

Jeter had a cameo in The Other Guys, where Mark Wahlberg’s character is demoted for having accidentally shot him (leading to the immortal line: “You should have shot A-Rod!”). Also in The Other Guys: Will Lyman, who was in Mystic River with Bacon. Two again. Also, as a note, Michael Keaton plays a police captain in The Other Guys named Gene Mauch, which, given the fact that Will Ferrell is a known Angels fan, probably isn’t a coincidence.

Chuck Connors

“The Rifleman” played two seasons in the big leagues, and also spent two years with the Boston Celtics. He also is only two away from Bacon: he was in Silver Whip with Robert Wagner, who was in Wild Things with Bacon.

Johnny Beradino

Another baseball player-turned-actor, Johnny Beradino was in the Majors for 11 years before becoming an actor, primarily in soap operas. He’s the only person with a Hollywood Walk of Fame star and a World Series ring (as a player- Bing Crosby presumably had one due to his ownership stake in the Pirates in 1960). He was in Seven Thieves with Eli Wallach, who was in Mystic River with Kevin Bacon. Two again.

Reggie Jackson

Reggie Jackson appeared in The Naked Gun, which also had Jim Smith, who was in Mystic River with Bacon. Two. As an aside, Reggie apparently must have considered going even more into acting, as he was named as a possible candidate to play Geordi LaForge in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Seriously.

So, as you can see, all baseball players who appeared in movies that come to mind are not far from Kevin Bacon. At all. Do you know of a ballplayer who appeared in a movie who is farther than three degrees away from Bacon? If so, let me know.