Inspiration.
I very much enjoyed this SB Nation Christmas article, which is well worth reading.
Is there a movie with Santa Claus playing baseball? I did not find it. If you are the go-to expert on Santa Claus movies,
please feel free to include the title in the comments section. Instructions on how to view the movie on the internet would be appreciated, too!
Kurt Russel was a baseball player who played Santa Claus.
In 1972, Kurt Russel played second base for the Hawaiian Walla Walla Islanders. He played 29 games with an OPS of .766.
In 1973, he played 6 games for the AA El Paso Sun Kings. His OPS was 1.526. He tore his rotator cup in a collision at second base, and never returned to the AA level. Eventually, he began his acting career.
As an actor, he played Santa Claus in two Netflicks films; The Christmas Chronicles in 2018 and The Christmas Chronicles 2 in 2022. Instead of finding Santa Claus played baseball, what I found was flipped to a baseball player who played Santa Claus.
Mini-Countdown to Christmas – Diamondbacks who were born December 23, 24, and 25.
Born December 23, 1990, Mitch Haniger.
In 2016, he made his debut in the Majors, playing 34 games with the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks traded him for Ketel Marte. Both players became All-Stars. Marte was three years younger than Haniger, and Marte continues to play in the Majors. Haniger has not played since 2024.
Born December 24, 1994, Miguel Castro.
In 2023 for the Diamondbacks, he pitched 64.2 innings (102 ERA+), followed by 6 innings in the playoffs.
“Through the first two months of the season, Castro was arguably the D-Backs’ best reliever.” — Ben Seigel
He ended the regular season on an 11-inning scoreless streak that helped the Diamondbacks reach the playoffs.
Prior to reaching the World Series, in the playoffs he pitched 5 innings with 3 allowed runs. Then, things changed for the worse. In the World Series, he pitched in 3 games, giving up 4 earned runs (including a walk-off homer in game one of the series) while getting 3 batters out. His World Series ERA was 36 (but is there such a thing as World Series ERA?).
The next season he pitched 13.2 innings (72 ERA+) prior to being released by the Diamondbacks.
Here is his player review for 2023.
Born December 25, 1994, Nabil Crismatt.
An argument could be made that he is the best player in the mini-countdown because he made a big impact in 2025, when the Diamondbacks badly needed starting pitchers due to injuries. Despite the big impact, the Diamondbacks fell short of reaching the playoffs.
For the Diamondbacks, he pitched two innings in 2023 and 34 innings in 2025. In 2025 he started 5 games (ERA 3.12) and entered in relief in 3 games (ERA of 5.63). Overall, in 2025 his ERA+ was an outstanding 117! Last I looked, he was a free agent for the 2026 season.
Here are his AZ Snake Pit Player Reviews for 2023 and 2025.
The Dominican Winter League experience for Jordan Lawlar.
In my imagination, during the winter league Santa Claus visited Jordan Lawlar and gave him one tip to add prowess to his defense in center field. However, it’s unlikely that Lawlar will ever admit to his good fortune.
What we do know is that he played 3 of his 11 winter league games at center field, and it’s noteworthy that in center field his fielding was 100% successful.
“Jordan Lawlar not only made his season debut for Tigres Del Licey in the Dominican Winter League on Tuesday, he started his first professional game as a center fielder.” — Alex Weiner
