The Rookie commentary, part 4: ‘You don’t have dreams, you don’t have anything’

Back to another Owls game, Rudy is on the mound pitching to an opposing player who looks like he’s been old enough to purchase alcoholic beverages for years. The “kid” smashes an RBI double to put the Owls down by 10. Time for the hook as coach says “Not your day, Rudy,” to which he glumly responds: “Not my year” and hands over the ball.

Coach – and the movie camera – pan around to the other players on the field. Everyone looks bored and like they’d love to be anywhere else but playing baseball for a losing team. The final score ends up 13-3.

The result prompts a postgame pep talk from Jimmy with his team on the bleachers. He starts by throwing around the Q word.

“You quit on me, and worse, you quit on yourselves,” Coach Morris says.

He goes on to tell them that they’re making it easy for the school to drop the baseball program, if that’s the writing on the wall they see anyway. Then he spins a small-town tale of what their futures will look like after graduation. It’s a standard, work-raise-a-family-retire scenario, all the while staying in Big Lake. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course.

“But if you’re looking for something more after you’re done here, you better give some serious thought as to how you’re gonna play out the rest of this season.

“I’m talking about wanting things in life. I’m talking about dreams. And all that starts right here. You don’t have dreams; you don’t have anything.”

Here comes the bet
And then the turn tables. Catcher Joel asks coach about his dreams, noting that whenever he catches coach, he has to ice his hand. “You’re the one who should be wanting more,” Joel says.

Wanting to keep the focus on his team, Jimmy replies that he had his shot at baseball. His team says he should take another. That’s when the bet comes into play. And yes, this is part of the true story. His team challenges Jimmy to try out for the big leagues again if they start winning their own ball games. Being dismissive again, Jimmy offers that scouts won’t have any interest in a high school science teacher. OK, so Joel ups the ante, wagering that the team will need to win its district and go to the state playoffs. Everyone is now much more excited than we’ve ever seen them on a baseball field so far, and Jimmy gives in, agreeing to the challenge.

Hunter is there, too, and he’s a smart kid: “I don’t get to tell Mom about this, do I?”

‘Stuff that’s real’
Later, we’ve reached the speedometer scene of the movie. Jimmy pulls over in the dark of night near a speedometer sign on one of those old country roads. Actually, he drives past first before putting it in reverse and stares at the 35 mph-limit sign. Good news is he didn’t speed, passing by at 31 mph, but that doesn’t really matter for the scene. With Hunter once again asleep in the truck, Jimmy pulls out his glove and throws a baseball into the air, past the sign, testing it out. The pitch registers a 42-mph toss.

He waits by the truck and looks all non-suspicious as another car drives by, then stretches his arms over his head and pounds his foot in the dirt to prepare for a “real” pitch. All the while, the soundtrack of the film is simple and gradually fades up on a simple country-music piece. The lyrics I made out were “Stuff that’s real, stuff you feel.” The Google machine tells me it’s called “Stuff that Works” by Guy Clark, a little ditty released in the 90s.

When Jimmy finally unloads the pitch, the meter reads 76 mph, and Jimmy immediately looks annoyed that this is apparently his top speed after all these years. He walks into the darkness to retrieve his baseballs. As he does so, the still-illuminated speed sign flickers. Five other lights on the left side glimmer to brightness and reveal that actual speed of 96 mph. That’s major-league speed.

Then we’re treated to a couple of scenes about the grass seed on the baseball field, first with the hair spreading and then some players stopping by Jimmy’s classroom to tell him the grass is growing.

The Rookie commentary, part 1: ‘What kind of baseball do they have? … They don’t.
The Rookie commentary, part 2: ‘There are more important things in life than baseball’

The Rookie commentary, part 3: ‘Yeah dad, bring the heat!’