Jim Morris - Tampa Bay Devil Rays "The Rookie"

Jim Morris was drafted the 4th overall pick in the 1st round of the 1983 MLB draft by the Milwaukee Brewers. Due to several shoulder surgeries and other circumstances it wasn’t until September 18, 1999 that Morris final reached the major leagues with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Jim Morris was the feel-good sports story of 1999, when at 35 he became a rookie pitcher for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Morris was a science teacher and baseball coach in a Texas high school when, urged on by his students, he attended a Devil Rays tryout. When Tampa Bay scouts found that he could throw the ball 98 MPH, they signed Morris to a minor league contract.

On that wonderful night in September, Morris jogged out of the bullpen in The Ballpark at Arlington, TX, as 40,000 people stood and roared. As grown men in his own bullpen whipped away tears, his family watched from the seats of a real major league park and half the population of Big Lake, TX wondered what that arctic chill was doing rippling through their spines. It’s truly a feel-good story of a life time. His first batter was Royce Clayton of the Texas Rangers and as you would imagine in any fairy tale he struck him out on three pitches in the movie….Actually it took four!

Morris pitched in 21 games for Tampa Bay in 1999 and 2000 before having another shoulder surgery which ended his 2000 season; he retired with a sore shoulder while in spring training with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2001. He co-wrote a 2001 book about his experiences, titled The Oldest Rookie, and his story was made into a 2002 feature film, The Rookie, starring Dennis Quaid as Morris.