The Rookie (2002). "No buts about it...I'm getting enough butts as it is."
Join us for this week's episode "The Rookie". We talk childhood dreams, military brat life, the heater, team dynamics, poopy diapers, old man river and why you never give up on a dream when you can throw in the 90's. Does this movie have us hitting the game winning home run? Or are we striking out on 3 pitches? Find out now!!
Storyline :Jim Morris is a Texas high school chemistry teacher and coach of the school's baseball team. He's always loved baseball and as a way of motivating his players, he agrees to go to a professional try-out if they win the championship. He once had aspirations to be a professional baseball player but an injury brought that to an end. Sure enough, the 39 year-old father of three finds himself at a camp for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and he somehow seems to have regained his pitching arm, easily throwing a 98 mph fastball. Signed to a contract, he toils in the minor leagues while his supportive wife stays home raising their children. He soon finds himself called up to the big club and pitching for Tampa which is in Texas playing the Rangers. Based on a true story
Directors: John Lee Hancock
Writers: Mike Rich
Stars: Dennis Quaid, J.D. Evermore, Rachel Griffiths, and Jay Hernandez
Awards: Nominee : ESPY Award Winner for Best Sports Movie, Nominee Angus T Jones for Young Artist Award
Film Budget: $22,000,000 (estimated)
Gross Worldwide: $80,693,537
If Old Man River had some anthems this would be it.
Sometimes dreams come back to life. Fueled by Facts.
The scene where Jimmy walks out to the mound for the first time at The Ballpark in Arlington was filmed during the seventh inning stretch of a real Texas Rangers game. All of the pitching shots were done after the game.
Brian Cox who plays the father of Dennis Quaid in this film is actually less than eight years older than Quaid.
Alex Rodriguez appeared as a member of the Texas Rangers, but in 1999, he was really a member of the Seattle Mariners.
In the film, when Jim is called up to the majors, a teammate named Brooks is called up with him. In real life, Steve Cox was the player called up with Jim. Brooks was a fictional character created for the film.
The tennis shoes young Jimmy Morris is wearing when he first moves to Texas and visits the old ball field by the oil derrick are Converse "Jack Purcells," named after a popular Canadian badminton player from the late '20s and early '30s. It was perhaps the first popular rubber and canvas American "tennis" shoe. They preceded the iconic "Chuck Taylors," which came later.
This family sports movie can be enjoyed on Disney+
https://www.disneyplus.com/movies/the-rookie/TOkRSKuK6saK
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