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JIM "THE ROOKIE" MORRIS
THE ROOKIE: THE INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY OF A MAN WHO NEVER GAVE UP ON HIS DREAM
Jim Morris escaped the desolation of his youth by dreaming of pitching in the Major Leagues. But as with most kids, it was just a fantasy, made all the more impossible by injuries he suffered in his early twenties. Having hoped only for a professional baseball career, Jim found himself facing an adult world he barely recognized. He turned away from baseball, and toward the real world.
Years passed, and on his thirty-fifth birthday Jim Morris found himself settled in as a high school physics teacher in a hardscrabble West Texas town. He had a wonderful wife, three kids, and students who adored him. His baseball career was restricted to coaching, and he believed his purpose in life was to inspire his students and players to dream bigger dreams than their harsh surroundings and homes generally allowed.
Then came the bet.
Jim’s young players had a proposition for their coach: if they won the league championship – something their school had never done – he’d try out for a major-league team. Jim laughed, knowing he was way too old to even be considered by a professional squad, but he accepted.
Well, they won. And what happened next surprised everyone, especially Jim Morris. Keeping his end of the bet, he headed off to try out for the Major Leagues. There, he threw faster and better than he had ever thrown before. Suddenly, Jim Morris was reborn. A few months later, he took the mound at Texas Stadium and became the Major Leagues’ oldest rookie pitcher in 40 years. Jim Morris’s dream had come true.
Jim Morris was a high school physics teacher until becoming a professional ballplayer at age 35. He is currently a relief pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He lives in San Angelo, Texas.
THE MOVIE Walt Disney’s The Rookie will depict the story of Jim Morris, who made a remarkable transition from high school baseball coach to Tampa Bay Devil Rays pitcher in 1999. A one-time top pitching prospect, Morris, who is a native of Brownwood, Texas, injured his shoulder and was forced to retire from pro ball in 1989. Ten years later, at the age of 35, the lefthander was signed by the Devil Rays after throwing as hard as 98 miles per hour at a tryout camp in Brownwood. After pitching well in the minor leagues, Morris made his Major League debut at The Ballpark in Arlington on September 18, 1999, striking out Royce Clayton as the only batter faced. Morris was injured much of the 2000 season and retired this spring due to arm trouble after going to spring training with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
THE BOOK A book about hope, about fathers and children, about husbands and wives, about players and competition, and about the power of dreams, THE OLDEST ROOKIE is more than just a tale of one man’s inspiring journey. It is for everyone who refuses to give up, and its moral is that we may very well have succeeded beyond our wildest aspirations without even knowing it. The incredible true story that proves that dreams can come true, even those that seem lost forever.
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