Dennis Quaid is Jimmy Morris, a high school science teacher and baseball coach who used to dream about going into the big leagues. Unfortunately, between frequent moves as an army brat, and the eventual growing up in a town without baseball, when he tried out, his pitches were okay but nothing special. A few surgeries later and any hope of professional pitching was out of the question.
Now, as a teacher and coach, his field never can grow grass, his team averages a win a season, but when he throws hard in a practice session just to see if he can still do it, his students are impressed. They encourage him to try out, but in the end, he convinces them that the only way he is going to make a fool of himself is if they can make their team district champs.
The first quarter of the movie focuses on the Owls and their motivated effort to climb the ranks. Eventually they do it and remind their coach that it is his turn to follow his dreams. Morris takes his three children to a scouting location and throws a few balls. Morris is shocked to find that apparently he consistently throws 98 MPH fast balls and, while an older player as a rookie is downright unheard of and the scout claims he will be laughed at for reporting him, he also says he would be fired for not reporting the 98 MPH fastball.
Then things start changing for Morris and his family. Calls start coming in and minor league teams start looking at him. After much deliberation, Morris finally decides to follow his dream and joins up with the Orlando Rays. At first, everyone thinks he must be some sort of publicity stunt, but not too long into the season, those that have been watching him start to see that he is a damn good pitcher. Eventually he is called up to the majors to play for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The movie ends with his first major league game where he is called to the mound to pitch the final strike out in the game, but his career goes on for two full seasons in the majors before returning back to Texas.
This disc comes with a featurette about the real Jim Morris that any fan of the movie should watch to see how things actually played out. It also contains interviews with professional players giving tips on how to better your game and audio commentary and deleted scenes round out the features.
The true story featurette takes us back to 1999 and gives us a more in-depth look at the true story that The Rookie was based on. An interesting aspect of this featurette are the interviews with Screenwriter Mike Rich and his views and interviews with Jim Morris.
While not my favorite movie, it is definitely a good baseball film. It is an inspirational tale about never giving up your dreams. Dennis Quaid does a great job of playing the anxious character that wants to follow his dreams, but feels out of place.
