I had such a fun time watching and writing a commentary for one of my favorite movies, “A League of Their Own,” this spring that I decided to give it a go with another baseball movie. Yes, I’ve broken down another baseball flick: Disney’s “The Rookie.” Look for another 14-parter!
Sticking to what I know, apparently, “The Rookie” is another movie about baseball based on a true story. So I guess that means I have a type for my commentaries, at least up until this point. Also, I have to make sure that I’m thinking of the baseball movie here, instead of one of my favorite TV dramas the past couple of years on ABC, also titled “The Rookie.” Nathan Fillion is still a stud though.
A disclaimer to let my loyal readers know that I can pretty much guarantee that I haven’t seen “The Rookie” film as many times as “A League of Their Own.” I don’t keep track, but I’m sure it’s not even close.
Basics on the real-life Morris
This kid-friendly Disney flick was released in 2002 and based on the story of lefthanded pitcher, Jim Morris, who played for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1999 and 2000 at the ripe old age of 35 and 36 years old. The relief pitcher tossed 15 innings across 21 games in the big leagues, walking 9 while striking out 13. He gave up 13 hits and 8 earned runs among the 69 batters he faced.
This all happened years after he was drafted by the Brewers in 1982 as a young stud. But injuries got in the way and derailed his career (He never got past single-A ball.) until he got another shot, eventually making his MLB debut Sept. 18, 1999. I learned from a behind-the-scenes feature on the DVD that one of the movie’s producer’s, Mark Ciardi, who played with the Brewers, played ball with the real-life Jim Morris back in the day.
Also, the real Jim Morris in this behind-the-scenes feature sported a thin mustache as a player. I wonder why that wasn’t incorporated into the movie with Dennis Quaid?
At any rate, let’s dive into Jimmy’s story, as it’s told by Disney.
A story from Big Lake, Texas
The movie opens letting us know it’s a Walt Disney Pictures flick that’s based on a true story. It starts out with a male narrator’s voice sharing a story about Texas. It goes a little something like this:
There’s a story told in the town of Big Lake, Texas. A story of the town’s beginnings. It’s the story of the Santa Rita No. 1, birthplace of West Texas Oil. Now, as with most Texas legends, there was a man who thought oil was right beneath his feet. And as with most such stories, no one else believed him.
Except in this case for two nuns, who in 1923 met the man and believed so much in him and his dream that they invested money no one knew they had. Now, when the nuns told their parish priest about the man’s dream and their investment in it, now, he counseled them to try and get their money back. Sheepishly, they admitted that it was too late, that the money was already spent. Well, the priest, he sighed, shook his head, and offered just one small bit of advice: ‘Bless the site with rose petals, and invoke the help of Saint Rita, patron saint of impossible dreams.’ And while the workers waited for the oil that would eventually come, they played baseball.
In a movie touch, the baseball from an old-time scene is popped up and then magically lands in the ball glove of a teenage boy who’s playing out in the snow and clearly in a more modern time period.
 |
| The kid from "Genius." |
Right away when seeing this film, I noticed the actor, Trevor Morgan, starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie “Genius.” A little millennial note for my fellow 90s kids right there.
Typed script across the screen sets the scene in Groton, Conn. Obviously, with all that snow on the ground, it didn’t seem like we were in Texas anymore. We’re introduced to our main character right away, as this young lad with the baseball plays public-address announcer to himself, muttering that it’s the first game in the big leagues, and Jimmy Morris has a no-hitter going. Naturally.
It must be a friend of his who’s catching Jimmy’s tosses, and it’s clear this boy isn’t as excited about playing baseball outside during winter. He tells Jimmy to not throw the ball so hard because his hands are cold. Another pitch and the friend announces he’s “waiting until spring” (good call, pal) and heads inside, leaving a dejected Jimmy all alone. Just then, Jimmy’s mother yells outside to Jimmy: “Your father and I need to talk to you.” That becomes a recurring line as we quickly learn that Jimmy’s dad is in the Navy and they’ll be moving to Virginia. Jimmy’s mom remarks that “maybe it won’t snow so much in Virginia.” I like the way she thinks.
That father-son relationship though
Next, we see young Jimmy throwing a baseball against a chain-link fence out in the pouring rain (a bit of foreshadowing for later) in Roanoke, Va. Then his mother offers that same line about needing to talk to him, and just as quickly the family is relocated to Hollywood, Fla. Where, this time, Jimmy is on the pitcher’s mound for a youth team.
Wearing a gray uniform with Falcons across the front in orange lettering and No. 10 on the back, Jimmy strikes out a batter. Next, he’s riding his bike onto a military base and enters a garage where his dad is working at a desk. His father, clearly established as a man with an all-business mentality, barely looks up from his work as Jimmy comes over and proudly tells his pop that he had 13 strikeouts in the game. Immediately, dad asks if he won, and Jimmy nods, sadly. Amazing – 13 strikeouts and all dad cares about is the W.
Continuing to ruin the moment, dad then tells Jimmy there’s a chance he may re-station (again) in three weeks to West Texas. Jimmy pleads his case for staying put, saying he has half the baseball season to play. He even offers a suggestion that he could stay with another family instead, but dad abruptly cuts him off, saying the family moves together and adds that he doesn’t have a choice.
Jimmy, resigned to the fact that he’ll have to move once again, has one question: “What kind of baseball do they have?” Dad responds: “They don’t.”
Man, pops just keeping hitting ‘em out of the park here. Completely dejected, Jimmy walks away without saying goodbye and then breaks into a run out of the garage.
No comments:
Post a Comment