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What: “Joe Torre: Curveballs Along the Way”

Where: Showtime

When: Friday, 9 p.m.

The Joe Torre story is a good one. In 18 years as a player and 14 as a manager, one of baseball’s most popular figures goes to the World Series for the first time as the manager of the storied New York Yankees and wins. The 1996 season offered a full range of emotions, from Dwight Gooden’s no-hitter against the Seattle Mariners to the death of Torre’s brother, Rocco, from a heart attack, as well as the successful heart transplant for another brother, Frank.

Actor Paul Sorvino [“Money Talks”], who plays Torre in this film, says, “If this were presented as fiction, it would be condemned as improbable. It’s impossible what happened.”

Great story, but is it a great film? It doesn’t seem to be. When a network is proud of a particular piece of work, it sends out advance tapes. With this film, Showtime sent out only a series of clips.

What was on those clips wasn’t very impressive. Sorvino, although a fine actor, seems miscast as Torre. Robert Loggia, another highly respected actor, plays Frank. No problem there.

But casting actors as baseball players can be a problem. In the tape, Billy Sample, who serves as a consultant for the film, acknowledges that making actors appear as baseball players is difficult. “They don’t roll the shoulders, and what you get is what is not a very virile-looking throw,” he says.

Isaiah Washington, who plays Gooden, acknowledges he hates baseball.

“I got hit in the eye in high school and never played after that,” he says.

So is this film worth watching? Because of the story, it probably is, even though the Yankees and Torre didn’t make it back to the World Series this year.