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James Samuel Morris Jr. (born January 19, 1964) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for two seasons with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Although brief, Morris' career is noted for making his MLB debut at the age of 35 and after undergoing several arm surgeries. His story was dramatized in the 2002 film The Rookie.
Angelo State did not sponsor a college baseball team during Morris's time there, so he instead competed for the Ram football team as a punter for the 1991 and 1992 seasons. In his second and final year on the team, the 28-year-old left-footer (who was listed as a sophomore) led all of NCAA Division II with an average of 44.5 yards per punt. The performance earned him a spot on the AFCA/Kodak All-America team.
Morris graduated the following summer with a degree in kinesiology and psychology and hung up his football cleats as he entered graduate school and took a full-time job as the director of the ASU Men's High Rise dormitory.
His career punting average for the Rams was 42.8 yards, just short of the standing ASU record of 43.2 yards by Bill Dement (1968–1971).
After sitting out all of 1988, Morris signed with the Chicago White Sox organization for 1989. Arm injuries and ineffectiveness limited him to pitching in just two games and he was again unable to rise past the single-A leagues before being released.
Unable to make anything of his career, Morris retired and moved to Big Lake, Texas with his wife Lorri, his nine-year-old son, and his five- and one-year-old daughters, where he became a physical science teacher and baseball coach at Reagan County High School. At this point, Morris had retired with a minor league record of 17–22, and a 5.13 earned run average (ERA) in 270 innings pitched.
Morris remained a teacher for Reagan County High School for the next decade. While coaching baseball for the Reagan County Owls in the spring of 1999, Morris made a promise to his team that he would try out for an MLB team if his team won the District Championship, something the team had never accomplished before. His team won the title and Morris kept his end of the bargain by attending a Tampa Bay Devil Rays tryout. The scout was not interested in Morris, but gave him a tryout solely to let Morris keep his promise to his players. Surprisingly, Morris discovered that in spite of his age, and having several surgeries on his arm, he was able to throw 12 consecutive 98-mph . After much debate with his family, Morris signed a professional contract with the Devil Rays organization at the age of 35. He started out with the AA Orlando Rays and moved up quickly to a spot with the AAA Durham Bulls.
Morris made 16 major league appearances in 2000, during which his arm problems recurred. His final appearance came on May 9, 2000, at Yankee Stadium (home of the very team that had first drafted him 17 years earlier). He entered a tie game in the bottom of the 10th inning with the bases loaded, and issued a game-ending RBI walk to his first batter, Paul O'Neill, after which the Rays shut him down for the season (the club ultimately released Morris in November). He was not the losing pitcher in the game as the runner who scored on the walk had been put on base by the previous pitcher Rick White, who was tagged with the loss. Morris never recorded any wins or losses in any of his major league appearances.
Morris was signed in December 2000 to a minor-league contract by the Los Angeles Dodgers, but was released during spring training. At the end of his major league career he was 0–0 with an ERA of 4.80 and 13 in 15 innings pitched.
Morris has released an autobiography, The Oldest Rookie. He often appears as a motivational speaker. Jim Morris Bio at jimmorristherookie.com Morris released his second book, Dream Makers, in 2020. It deals with his life in the twenty years since his retirement from Major League Baseball.
A feature film made by Disney called The Rookie was released in 2002 about Morris's climb to playing in MLB. He is portrayed in the film by Dennis Quaid. Morris cameos in the movie as "Orlando Umpire #2".
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