The Power of Dreams in Disney's The Rookie

by Kevin Gardner

Nearly everyone has at some point dreamt of what could have been. Whether it's a missed career opportunity, a missed relationship, or something else entirely, ruminating in the nostalgia can bring up a variety of emotions. The 2002 Disney film, The Rookie, manages to capture every one of those feelings as it explores a "what if" that becomes real.

The film's lead character, a man named Jimmy Morris, lives deep in the world of could have been. He's a high school science teacher who missed out on his chance to become a pro baseball player after a career-ending pitching injury. Now the only time he handles baseball gloves, it's playing with his kids or coaching the students on the school baseball team.

After a disappointing start to the season, Morris sits down with his team for a heart-to-heart. He pushes them on the importance of having dreams. The team pushes Morris right back. They've noticed how fast he's still able to pitch, and they want to know why he gave up on his dream. Eventually, the team and their coach come to a deal: if the team takes home the district championship, Coach Morris will go to another big-league try-out. 

As slow and steady as the grass grows in their outfield, the Big Lake Owls start building momentum. They take home win after win both at home and on the road. By the day of the district championship, they're on a 16-game hot steak. It's a hard-fought game with more lead changes than innings, but at the end of it, it's the Owls who leave the diamond in victory. After the celebration of their win dies down and the season and school year wraps up, the team demands that their coach uphold his end of the deal.

So, on June 15, Jimmy packs up his three young kids and heads to a try-out for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Once there, he's confronted with young men half his age with twice the talent. When his number is finally called up, he delivers twelve straight fastballs at 98 miles per hour each. A few weeks later, he does it again in front of a slew of professional scouts. That's when things start getting complicated.

As the offers start pouring in, Jimmy must take a hard look at the needs of his family and the desires of his heart. He wrestles with the decision as his friends and loved ones weigh in on what he should do. It's his wife, Lorri, who finally says what he needs to hear: that he can't let his dream get away from him a second time. The next morning, it's off to the minor leagues.

Morris starts out in the AA league on the Orlando Rays, and then the AAA league on the Durham Bulls. It's by no means an easy transition. The younger players regard him as nothing more than a publicity stunt, and Morris finds life on the road to be more painful than he expected, both physically and emotionally. After three months of the grind, he decides to call it quits and head back home to his family and his job. He believes that his dream has run its course once again.

Which, of course, is when everything changes again. The call that Jimmy Morris has been waiting his entire life to receive comes through. He's being called up to the major leagues to pitch for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. His first game is the next day in his home state of Texas. For the first time, he finds himself in a major league uniform, and his family and his students are all there to see his lifelong dream come true.

Above all else, The Rookie is a story about the value of holding onto your dreams. They may come true on schedule, or they may take forty years to be realized. No matter the timeline, as long as you keep believing, your call is going to come one day.