Trivia for
The Rookie (2002/I) More at IMDbPro »

• The movie theater marquee shows the title of the baseball classic Bang the Drum Slowly (1973), also directed by a John Hancock (John D. Hancock) (no relation).
  
  
• The scene where Jimmy walks out to the mound for the first time at The Ballpark in Arlington was filmed during the seventh inning stretch of a real Rangers game. All of the pitching shots were done after the game.
  
  
• Trevor Morgan, who plays Young Jimmy, had to learn how to pitch left-handed.
  
  
• The park used for Durham Bulls home stadium was actually the new Dell Diamond in Round Rock Texas. The stadium is home of the triple-A Astro farm team. The teams name is the Round Rock Express.
  
  
• The place they filmed the movie was not really Big Lake, Texas, but in Thorndale, Texas, northeast of Austin.
  
  
• In real life, there were only 10 players on the team, which is shown in the movie. Four of the "talking" Owls came from LA, the other six came from Austin. They held a camp and 800 kids came out, and the producers got to pick from them.
  
  
• In real life, after Jimmy Morris' first major league game in Arlington, Texas, he asked Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez to sign a baseball.
  
  
• Cameo: [Jim Morris] an umpire in the Orlando games.
  
  
• Dennis Quaid did much of his own pitching, but he was doubled in shots that required truly fast pitches, by former minor league pitcher Jeff Dowdy. No special effects were used to enhance the speed of the pitches; however, some camera tricks, such as "whip pans," were used to make Quaid's own pitches appear faster.
  
  
• The film's original movie poster, which features the character of Jim Morris silhouetted by a sunset, is actually a picture of pitching double Jeff Dowdy, not Dennis Quaid.
  
  
• The montage in which Coach Morris' team is playing baseball against several different teams includes clips filmed at Thrall High School in Thrall, Texas. During March of 2001, the filmmakers spent one full day of shooting at Thrall High.
  
  
• Producers contacted Royce Clayton, the first batter Morris faced in the Major Leagues, and got his permission to use his name, etc for the film. It actually took Morris four pitches to strike him out. Clayton managed to hit one foul. But it was too difficult to film a ball going foul, so they left it out.
  
  
• At one point, Dennis Quaid makes a reference to promoting "Cap'n Crunch" to Admiral. Quaid played a Coast Guard Admiral in the remake of Yours, Mine and Ours (2005).
  
  
• Brian Cox who plays the father of Dennis Quaid in this film is actually less than eight years older than Quaid.
  
  
• The tennis shoes young Jimmy Morris is wearing when he first moves to Texas and visits the old ball field by the oil derrick are Converse "Jack Purcells," named after a popular Canadian badminton player from the late '20s and early '30s. It was perhaps the first popular rubber and canvas American "tennis" shoe. They preceded the iconic "Chuck Taylors," which came later.
  
  
• Cameo: [Jim Morris] In the district championship game, with the Owls down 2-1, "Wacko" Campos is up to bat, and sends an extra-base hit to right field that scores the tying run, even when third-base coach Jimmy Morris tries to hold the runner. There are two shots during that scene where you can see the real-life Jim Morris and his wife Lorri (both wearing sunglasses) rooting the team from behind the backstop. He's sporting his trademark mustache and is wearing a gray t-shirt.
  
  
• Cameo: [Jim Morris] In the district championship game, with the Owls down 2-1, "Wacko" Campos is up to bat, and sends an extra-base hit to right field that scores the tying run, even when third-base coach Jimmy Morris tries to hold the runner. There are two shots during that scene where you can see the real-life Jim Morris and his wife Lorri (both wearing sunglasses) rooting the team from behind the backstop. He's sporting his trademark mustache and is wearing a gray t-shirt.
  
  
• When Jimmy says to Brooks, "You know what we get to do today? We get to play baseball," it is a reference to a deleted scene, where Brooks tells Jimmy how his father said the same thing before every game he would play as a boy.
  
  
• The pendant hanging in Morris's locker next to his blue suit coat is of St. Rita, the patron saint of the impossible.
  
  

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