It’s the bittersweet story of an athlete-turned-actress whose life was cut short.
The Bad News Bears (1976) was a classic baseball movie, a coming-of-age story about a group of misfits who played Little League baseball in Los Angeles. Known as the California Bears, the film starred Walter Matthau and Tatum O’Neal. O’Neal was coming off her Oscar win for Paper Moon (1973), and she played star pitcher Amanda Whurlitzer.
The film was a box office hit, spawning a remake that was another big winner. The year was 2005, and the film was eponymously titled Bad News Bears. This time, director Richard Linklater wanted an athlete to play the Wurlitzer role, and he and his team picked Sammi Kane Kraft to play the role.
Born in Livingston, New Jersey, Kraft loved sports. She competed in the Junior Olympics and especially loved baseball. ESPN.com featured her skills on the diamond, and those pitching skills landed her a part in the film. She and her fans believed that role would be the beginning of her acting career. Music was also a love, and Kraft started an all-girl garage band, Scary Girls.
However, her aspirations and life were cut short when she died in October 2012 as a victim of an auto accident in the LA area. The car in which she was riding rear-ended a semi and was then hit by a third vehicle.
Kraft will be forever remembered for her role in Bad News Bears and for something else: her heart that lives on, donated by her parents to a person on the transplant list.
