Rookie Of The Year came out in ‘93, starred Thomas Ian Nicholas (later of American Pie semi-fame), Daniel Stern (who also directed), and featured guest shots from Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, and Pedro Guerrero (!!!).
Little Henry Rowengartner (Why did they pick this name?Why!?!) breaks his arm playing a little league game, and his arm heals in such a way that he is now the hardest throwing player of all time….as a 12 year old! He gets spotted in the bleachers of Wrigley by the GM of da Cubbies and is immediately signed to a large contract and placed directly on the big league club. Wha???
As Henry is dominating major league hitters, his mother, Mary, begins to fall in love with….GARY BUSEY!! Jesus. I think I would immediately plunge into alcoholism if my mom ever had started dating Gary Busey. I didn’t realize the gravity of the situation when I watched this movie as a kid. This takes on all sorts of new meanings now.
Of course, when Henry comes back home at one point during the season, he finds that his former friends now hate his guts. Who cares. FUCK those jealous little twat-children. If they wanted fame and fortune in the big leagues like Henry here, then MAYBE they should have thought about breaking their own arms.
Anyway, the last act devolves into some plot development where Henry’s evil stepdad agrees to hand him over to the Yankees for $25 million. So, basically, Rookie Of The Year foreshadowed Alex Rodriguez.
What sports movie remembrance would be complete without looking at the errors made by the filmmakers in regards to the rules and traditions of baseball. From IMDB:
- Factual errors: During the last game Henry uses the hidden ball trick illegally. It is against the rules of Major League Baseball for the pitcher to stand on the mount without the baseball. The correct call would have been a balk.
- Factual errors: When Henry is called from the dugout for the first time, the “Rocket” is pitching and everyone seems to act like he had a horrible game. However, after the game, John Candy, the announcer, says that Henry got the save with a 5-4 win. Henry gave up a Home Run, so the worst that the “Rocket” could have done was throw 7 innings giving up only 3 runs, which is pretty good by anyone’s standards.
And let’s not overlook the most glaring, inexcusable error in the whole entire film:
- Continuity: The size of the moon during the last game in the season.
