The Rookie story from MLB.Com

Rating: Null/10 (18 August 2002)

Hollywood, CA -- Here's an interesting idea for a movie: A 35-year-old high school science teacher and baseball coach from West Texas tries out for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and, less than four months later, is pitching in the Major Leagues.
Yup, pure Hollywood fiction. Sounds like the kind of fantasy that Disney, the same studio that did the remake of "Angels in the Outfield" in 1994, would come up with.
Well, the story does come to you courtesy of Disney, only this time the fantasy is reality. It is the true story of Jim Morris and his amazing odyssey from the faculty lounge to the Major Leagues in "The Rookie."
In the film, Dennis Quaid plays Morris, the former Major League prospect turned high school baseball coach in Big Lake, Texas, who in 1999 makes a deal with his players. If they win the divisional championship, he in return would try out for a Major League team. Of course, they win, forcing Morris to try out for the Devil Rays. And to the surprise of everyone, including himself, he ends up on the fast track to the big leagues with a consistent 98-mph fastball.
"I just found it inspirational," said Quaid. "If it was a piece of fiction I don't think I would have done it. It's just too unbelievable. He was teaching high school science in May in some little town in Big Lake, Texas, and in September he's standing on the pitching mound in a Major League ballpark fulfilling his dream. You couldn't be more storybook about it."
Morris, now 38, who retired from baseball after appearing in 16 games with the Devil Rays in 2000, says the events of 1999 changed the direction of his life.
I think it opened my eyes to second chances," he said. "I'm trying to teach my kids in high school a lesson and they end up teaching me a lesson and that in itself is a second chance. Kids see themselves helping an adult and I think that inspires them. I never would have tried to play baseball again if it weren't for them. I'd been out of the game for 10 1/2 years."
While pitching for the Devil Rays' Triple-A affiliate in Durham, NC, Morris got a call from Mark Ciardi, an aspiring film producer who happened to be a former teammate of Morris' when the two played together in the Milwaukee Brewers' farm system in the mid 1980s. Ciardi and his partner, Gordon Gray, convinced Morris that his story would make a wonderful feature film and immediately set up a meeting with Disney.
With Mike Rich and John Lee Hancock on board as writer and director, the filmmakers had to find the right man to play Morris. They chose Quaid, who has played football stars in the films "Everybody's All American" and "Any Given Sunday" and has starred in several other had a string of both critical a commercial hits including "Breaking Away," "The Right Stuff" and, more recently, "Traffic."
Quaid, who grew up in Houston and says that the old Colt 45's of Bob Aspromonte, Rusty Staub and Jimmy Wynn were his boyhood idols, had not picked up a baseball in nearly 30 years.
"I hadn't played baseball since I was in Little League, so it was quite a challenge," said Quaid. "I was always a baseball fan, but I hadn't played in years. Getting the pitching motion down was the most important thing. I didn't want to look like I threw like an actress."
So the producers hired former Dodger and Pirate reliever Jim Gott to work with Quaid.
"We had the luxury of three months before we started shooting," said Quaid. "Jim would come over to my house and we'd throw balls in the front yard, we'd go over to Dodger Stadium once a week and throw over there. That was very exciting and we would just work at getting the pitching motion down."
Gott says the 46-year-old actor was a very good student.
"We just went through the ritual of what a pitcher goes through," said Gott. "An offseason training program is what I tried to work with him on. A throwing program of three to five days. Three days in the beginning. We just began to work on his mechanics. Dennis is an athlete already, I think he has more big league time with his football movies and now his baseball movie than I ever did in the big leagues. Here's a guy who's a huge star, who takes his craft seriously, but he loves the athletic side of things and he was able to adapt to whatever training program we had for him right off the bat."
When he wasn't throwing, Gott had Quaid study videotape of a baseball legend.
"I gave Dennis a tape of Sandy Koufax pitching in the seventh game of the 1965 World Series against the Minnesota Twins," said Gott. "I felt he should learn from the best and Sandy helped me a lot in my career with the Dodgers. Dennis was always looking for the finer points of what looked right and what seemed right. I felt being a lefty and playing a power pitcher like Jim Morris and Sandy being the best lefty power pitcher ever, that this is a tape he should see and he loved it."
The entire process gave Quaid a deeper understanding of the game.
"I now have a better appreciation for pitchers," said Quaid. "I've always been a baseball fan, but now I can watch a game with a little different point of view having delved just a little bit into Jim's world."
Morris was impressed with Quaid's work as an actor and a pitcher.
"He threw everyday," said Morris. "He got to the point as a pitcher, as pitchers do, before he let the ball go, he knew if the pitch was bad or not -- he was amazing. He did a lot of work."
Morris is also pleased with the way his life is portrayed on film.
"I'm just so happy with the way it turned out," said Morris. "I actually got to see a finished product about three weeks ago in Nashville with the religious broadcaster's convention and they didn't know I was in the theatre until it was over and I had to dry my eyes before I could get up and talk to them."
Quaid says "The Rookie," rated G, is much more than just a baseball film.
"It's about second chances in life," said the actor. "Second chances in our dreams, second chances in our relationships in life and I think that's how somebody who is not even a baseball fan can relate to the film."
Morris, who now works as a motivational speaker and volunteer baseball coach in Dallas, hopes that people everywhere can be inspired by his story.
"Baseball just happened to be my dream," said Morris. "I think other people can put their dreams into my life because, let's face it, I'm just an ordinary person, I just got to do something that I wanted to do my entire life and I think other people can see themselves in that and see themselves accomplishing a lot."
Ben Platt covers both Hollywood and the Dodgers for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.