The Outworker
The relationship with oneself is the most important to develop, but the easiest to neglect. These conversations will hopefully allow you to develop that relationship.
The Outworker
#024 - Jim "The Rookie" Morris - The Unconventional Path To The Top Of Major League Baseball
Former MLB pitcher Jim Morris overcame incredible odds to achieve his big league dreams. Jim shares his inspirational story from facing a difficult childhood, to giving up on baseball, to making an unlikely comeback at age 35 and pitching in the majors. However, Jim's journey didn't end there. He endured a series of debilitating injuries and health issues, including Parkinson's disease and CTE, while also overcoming alcoholism and substance abuse. Jim's path to healing and his resilience in the face of adversity will leave you motivated to chase your own dreams, no matter how impossible they may seem.
Timestamps:
00:00 Environment of Baseball
03:00 Sports as a Coping Mechanism: Finding Solace and Success
17:57 Switching Identities: Athlete to Coach & Teacher
26:24 A Second Chance at a Dream
34:22 Making Major League Debut at 35
39:09 A Faith-Based Path
45:20 Turning Jim Morris' Story into 'The Rookie'
50:56 Dealing with Physical Ailments
52:51 A Miraculous Healing
01:01:07 Faith and Control
01:06:10 Making Fun of Life
01:09:55 Encouraging Others to Keep Going
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What's up outworkers. Former MLB pitcher Jim Morris overcame incredible odds to achieve his big league dreams. Jim shares his inspirational story from facing a difficult childhood, to initially giving up on baseball, to then making an unlikely comeback at age 35 and pitching in the majors. However, Jim's journey didn't end there. He endured a series of debilitating injuries and health issues, including Parkinson's disease and CTE, while also overcoming alcoholism and substance abuse. Jim's path to healing and his resilience in the face of adversity will leave you motivated to chase your own dreams, no matter how impossible they may seem.
Tim (00:06.67)
I know you moved around a lot as a kid. How much of baseball for you wasn't just about the drive for becoming the best that you could be, but also the need for an environment where you felt comfortable and was stable for you.
Jim (00:29.25)
In between the white lines of any sport is where I felt safe. The person who's supposed to love you the most in your life and guide you and give you boundaries and love you and push you towards your dreams was actually the person who tore me down the worst and that was my dad. And you you're not good enough. Why even try? You're gonna embarrass yourself and everybody else just quit. And he'd always find something negative. I'd hit three home runs, I'd strike out once.
And so I got yelled at for striking out. You don't ever make it the big league striking out all the time. And so.
But it was in between those white lines that I got to be the kid I was supposed to be. And so I could tune him out during that period of time and then just deal with him off the field. Whether it was basketball, track, football, baseball, it didn't matter. Sport to me saved my life.
Jim (01:22.529)
For some people it's art, for some people it's writing. It just depends on whatever it is your dream is. And for me it was sports. And I fell in love with sports, I loved the competition. I never competed against anybody else, I competed against myself. If I could make me better one step at a time, every single time out, that made me happy. And I could see myself progress. Outside the white lines was a different story. And...
just going back to the dad thing, was rough growing up in that environment. And I know people had it worse, but I tell audiences when I speak to them, it's the bruises go away, it's the words that stick with you. you know, holding my baby brother in his arms one day, he looks down at me and goes, this is the one we wanted, we never wanted you. And when you're almost six, from the person that you love the most, and who's supposed to love you the most,
doesn't. That's just rough. And so my acceptance was through my coaches and sports.
Tim (02:31.79)
Was sports ever a coping mechanism for you then to kind of disprove your dad rather than focusing on your improvement?
Jim (02:42.921)
As a youth and a teenager, I would love to say that I had the cognizance to go, I'm going to get back at him. But in a small way, I think it was because I knew I was successful. I had teammates and coaches who patted me on the back, told me I did a good job. Keep it up. And it didn't matter what he said at that point because I got kudos from other people. And like I said, whatever it is your dream that you're chasing.
may not be the one you end up loving the most. for me, baseball became my true love, even though I was very good at football and I could have gone to college anywhere I wanted to and played. I wasn't academically ready. And so...
I chose baseball. Basically, I stayed close to home when I graduated high school and went to a junior college because my grandfather was sick with ALS and I wanted to be there for my grandmother and my grandfather. And he died my first semester in junior college. The Brewers drafted me in a supplemental draft in 1983 in January. I signed a contract and I left as quick as I could. And I just wanted a way from my father.
Tim (03:59.532)
Yeah. So breaking that down a little and going back to your time in high school, think a big part of any type of development, whether it's personal, athletic, professional is about creating a consistent disciplined routine for yourself. And I think a big part of that is having an environment that's conducive to that. How did moving to Brownwood, Texas,
challenge your dreams with baseball a little bit, but also kind of help you from a development standpoint, just as a person and in life. How did that process look for you?
Jim (04:43.049)
At 15, my parents, who argued worse than two people I've ever seen in my life, came to a great conclusion that they were going to send me from their house in Florida to my grandparents' house in Brownwood, Texas. From 15 to 18, I was under the tutelage of my grandparents. And they taught me how to treat people. And they taught me how to look people in the eye and shake hands firmly, open doors for people, even if they didn't want it, because it's the right thing to do. They taught me about life.
And they said, every single thing you do is going to lead you into your next step. Who do you want to be? And for me, those three years saved me. My football coach hated baseball when I got to Brownwood. So we didn't have a high school baseball team, but I did learn a lot about football and
I learned that if you have a better plan, you have more heart than the other team, you're going to win. And we weren't the biggest, the fastest or the strongest team in the state of Texas in 1981. But we were better because we were more prepared. We knew what they were going to do before they did it. And I learned that from that coach. He made us men and he did stuff to us. Now, probably some of the coach would be thrown under the jail. But back then everybody was in it together and we were a team.
And that's where I learned teamwork. I learned it from my grandparents, who after 15 years of listening to my parents say the worst things possible to each other, I learned that my grandparents never said a crossword to each other. They built each other up. They were a team. And then I played for the Brownwood Lions. We won a state championship because we're a team. And in the summers, we worked out and we showed up.
Even when the coaches weren't allowed up there, every single day we were up there practicing. Because that's just what you did. And I learned about teamwork from Gordon Wood in Brownwood, Texas.
Tim (06:45.294)
You would think that somebody like you and tying it to your father a little would have a lot of built up aggression and anger and football could potentially be something that could help with that, you know, very physical sport. What was it about baseball though that clicked with you more than football?
Jim (07:09.189)
I don't know that it clicked with me more. It was just my first love. When I was five, we lived in Oakland and I watched Vita Blue play and the athletics and I loved them. And then we moved to Connecticut and I got to go watch the Red Sox at Fenway. And I got to watch Ron Guidry pitch for New York. And I got to watch Hank Aaron with the Milwaukee Braves.
He even had a ball signed by Hank Aaron at one point. He was an idol of mine because he went through things that people like you and I will never know about just to be where he was every single day and he did it better than anybody. And he just showed up and did his job. And then to have a ball signed by him was awesome. Now I have to tell you the rest of that story. I sand lauded the ball. We lived in Connecticut. It snowed a lot. We ran out of baseballs. And when I got one,
I went in and the name was gone in like 30 seconds. And then 30 years later, because of Russell Athletics was an endorser of the movie, The Rookie, and Hank Aaron was their main endorser. I got to ring the closing bell at stock market with Hank Aaron. And I got to tell him my story. And we had this idea in our head of what our mentors and the people we looked up to.
what they should be like and how they should act and are they nice? And I have to be honest with you and say that he is probably one of the best men I've ever met in my life who had one of the heartiest laughs and heartish handshakes I've ever had. I thought he was gonna break my hand, but he was amazing. And so that picture I had built up as a kid, it was even better as an adult when I actually got to meeting because he was the same person.
Tim (08:58.702)
I'd like to believe that you sand -lotted that baseball for the love of the game and that love of playing baseball. So in 1982, you played for Ranger Junior College in junior Texas. And then, like you said, you got drafted by the Brewers in 1983. Talk to me about that transition to pro ball.
Jim (09:20.845)
It was an amazing venture. gave me $35 ,000 to chase my dream and I thought I'm rich. I told all my friends I'll be in the big leagues in six months. Watch me. And then I show up and there's 100 people there already. And it was just pictures. And I thought, what have I gotten into and everybody's older than me? And I do so well that first season that I get invited to extended spring training, which is where they send you when you're not quite ready for any other team.
And it was way harder than I thought it would be. I went from striking out guys who didn't play high school baseball in Brownwood to people hitting moonshots that probably still haven't even landed here in 2024. And I had to grow up quick, but I'm not a quick person. And so the lessons were hard, they were rough, and they were bumpy. And the road was long. In the next five and a half years, I had six surgeries.
and I never could quite stay healthy and it'd blow my elbow out. And so I'd work on that and then I would come back and I'd forgotten to work my shoulder out as much as my elbow. And then the shoulder goes out and I didn't know what I was doing and I thought I knew everything because I was an athlete and athletes should be able to do whatever it is they want to do. And I found out real quick that's not how it is. There's a lot of work and I knew that from Brownwood and playing football.
I didn't understand how big that was in baseball until I got there. And then I found out real quick, was not, mature wise, was not even close to ready. And so every time I went out, I tried to throw as hard as I could. In 24, I'm out of baseball.
Tim (11:07.79)
Yeah, so like you said right there, 24 years old, you initially give up on baseball and you go to Angelo State where you played football. In that process, did you ever wonder what would have happened or did you ever ask yourself, you know what, maybe I should have stuck with football and see where that took me.
Jim (11:28.007)
Those choices are easy when you're in the moment and yeah, I led the country in punting and kickoffs through the back of the end zone, touchbacks and.
hang time of five, three. I mean, I could blast the ball and my football coach was right. And there was a period of time when I thought maybe I should have played football, but I don't regret the choices. I wasn't mature enough at the time to go to college and I was just an athlete and I'm going to be an athlete and I want to play baseball. So I'm going to play baseball. And then that didn't work out. And then when you find out at 24,
and you go to college, you understand much better at 24 than you do when you're 18 that you become smart when you have to pay for it. And so when I went to school, it was easy that time because I had never opened that door before. I had been told I was dumb my whole life. And so I believed it. But everywhere we moved, and when I get to Brownwood at 15, that's the 30th school I've been to in nine years.
And so I'm constantly the new kid, constantly picked on 120 pounds, six feet tall. You fit into lockers. I got bullied until they found out I was an athlete. And then once they find out you're an athlete, your team has your back. And so that was another reason I love sports so much because when you're part of a team, you're part of something bigger than yourself and you can shoot for something even bigger than you thought you could. And so the second chance at football.
In my late 20s, I was like, I like this, man. I like the guys coming up to me going, man, it sounds like a cannon when the ball comes off your foot. And there were some things that happened during that period after my second year there that literally destroyed me for a period of time. The movie came out. I'm doing a speech in Corpus.
Jim (13:32.425)
for the Blue Lack, Latin United League of American Citizens. And I go down there and Reed Ryan is there, Nolan's son, and they're bringing a ballpark, minor league ballpark to Corpus Christi. And I'm speaking. And so basically there are three Caucasians there. There's Reed Ryan, there's me, and there's a guy in the back of the room who's staring at me the whole time and I have no idea who it is.
So I sign autographs, I take pictures with everybody. After I get done, I get a picture with Reed Ryan. And then this man comes up to me, he goes, do you remember me? And I said, no, sir, I'm sorry. I've met a lot of people in last few years. He goes, I was your football agent when you were at Angelo State. He goes, I came here to ask you one question. And I said, what is that? He said, in 1993, when the Steelers were going to draft you in the second round of punt and kickoff, why did you not call back? And I said, what are you talking about?
and he explained the situation to me and basically the person who got that message I am not married to anymore.
Jim (14:41.705)
I was good enough to go pro in football and didn't even know it. Everybody had come through looking at me and scouting me and man, you have great hang time, man, you have great hang time. And then the draft comes and goes and I don't get drafted. And it was heartbreaking because I thought, you know, I'm 28, but I had scouts go, George Blandick kicked till he was a skeleton. You can kick. And so I thought I was going to get drafted. And then I didn't.
And that set me back a little bit. And. But I would not be here talking to you right now had that not happened. If I go play football then. Nobody cares. But 25 years ago next month. Because of a group of high school kids. I get a second crack at my dream. That's the picture I want in my head. I don't care about football anymore. Because it helped those kids. It helped me.
Tim (15:40.526)
Yeah. So dissecting that and leading up to that point, how you worked with those kids and how that dream came to be, or that deal that you made with them came to be. So you had gotten a shoulder surgery when you were 28, when you were playing football at Angelo state and the doctor tells you that you'll never be able to pitch again. So you practically accepted that your athletic career would be over. And then.
In 1997, you start working at Regan County High School in Big Lake, Texas. And obviously you didn't know it at the time that this would place would actually be the origin of your baseball career being revitalized. But before getting into that, what was the process like from going from an athlete to being a teacher and a coach up until this point in your life, your identity is.
solely been fixed on the work and everything that goes into being an athlete. How did it feel making a pretty big transition into being a totally different person?
Jim (16:56.713)
That's a good question. I've never been asked that before.
Jim (17:02.801)
I thought if I couldn't do it right, maybe I could teach people to do it right. And that was my big selling point with those kids. Don't take it for granted. If you want it, you got to earn it and you got to go out and chase it. And no matter what the dream is, I said, I want you guys to do great in the classroom. I didn't. I want you to do great on the field. I didn't. But maybe with me teaching you some of the things that I did wrong.
and then teaching you how to do them right. Maybe that'll help us out and maybe I can help you push you a little bit further than what you think you can do. And I've been screamed at, yelled at, cursed at and hid my entire life. But it's 35, I thought, working with kids. I'm not doing that because when you're a kid and you're getting screamed at, yelled at and cursed at, it goes in one ear and out the other. And that's not what I wanted. I wanted these kids to listen. And...
classroom was different in the baseball field. I didn't know that I would like the classroom. And being in there and being able to teach kids and being able to share a sense of humor with them and having other teachers take notice of kids pepping up when they come to my classroom when they've been sleeping all day in other classes. That helped me because when I was a teenager I was that kid sleeping in the classes. I'm dumb, why not?
And so I knew what it took to keep their interest. And that's what I did. And that's what I stuck with. And to a point where I had one kid send me a letter several years ago going, you don't remember me, and he told me his name. He goes, I was in your science class for two years.
Because he failed. I slept all the time. But every day I greeted him. Every day he would come in, I would talk to him. We're having a quiz, we're having a test. If you need help, let me know. If you need somebody else to help you, let me know. And we can get through this. Let's do it. And he never said a word for two years. I get this letter. He goes, coach, you don't remember me, but I slept through your class for two years. You are the only teacher, whoever.
Jim (19:15.667)
talk to me every single day. You're the only one who greeted me. You're the only one who asked if I needed help, if I wanted help. You were the only one to talk to me. He goes, what people didn't know was that my parents were alcoholics. And it was my job to get my brothers and sisters from school, get them home, feed them, do their homework, bathe them, get them ready for bed.
And by the time I was done doing that, I was done. He goes, I want you to know because of you, I am now married to the most beautiful woman on the planet. I had the three most beautiful daughters a husband and a father could ever ask for. And PS, I own my own oil company.
Jim (20:04.401)
Now that is a turnaround and that is a letter that will stay on my heart forever because everybody had counted that kid out. Why do you waste your time on him? Because people didn't waste their time on me in a classroom and I know what that's like. But him coming back years later and thanking me for just saying hi and do you need any help, that was amazing to me.
Tim (20:31.532)
Yeah, it's incredible to hear, especially from the standpoint where if you just continued being an athlete and this is going back to the Steelers not getting that Steelers call, you would have never been able to have such a major impact on a person like that. Talk to me about the interaction now that you had with the players that you were coaching and when they challenged you on why you weren't playing baseball anymore.
Jim (21:02.537)
Here's the thing, when I was 18, 19, and I thought I was pretty good, and everybody else did too, I threw 87, 88, once in a while I would touch 90, but that was it. And then at 28, 85 % of my deltoid gets cut out, you never pitch again, okay, I'm good. And then you go back to college and start teaching and coaching, end up in big like.
Jim (21:27.505)
My grandfather taught me that you never ask anybody else to get dirty unless you're already dirty yourself. And so when the kids and I want them to do something and I thought it was important, I got right in the middle of it and I participated with them. And we'd even switch positions and I would put them in the coaching position and I would be in the playing position. And then that's how we learned. We learned together and
I went from 10 kids my first year to 63 the second year in a little bitty school.
Jim (22:05.641)
There was a person on staff at that time who stopped me on my way to practice in 1999 where the story takes place. To tell me you've taken these kids as far as you can. These kids are losers. They're never going anywhere. And he put his finger in my chest and he goes, neither are you. You might be a great baseball coach, but you're always going to come in last to people like me because you're too nice. I know how to step on people to get to be where I want to be. Well, two of my kids are on the corner or I didn't see it.
And this guy had come in after I'd already been hired two years prior.
Jim (22:44.073)
Those kids heard what he said, 90 seconds, he destroyed two years of work. So when the movie opens up, it's 15 to one, 15 to zero, you people go, was that true? Absolutely. We're right back where they were when I took the job. Coach people come through here on their way to somewhere else. And I remember that in my head. And because of my grandparents' faith, I've got a lot of faith. I've learned this over the course of my life. God has a sense of humor and a long memory.
And at 19, with my $35 ,000, I bought a little red sports car and I drove through Big Lake on my way to Phoenix, Arizona for my first spring training and thought, who would live here? Well, number one, God remembered that because 15 years later, that's where I live. Number two, my catcher, Joel, said, coach, people come through here on the way to somewhere else. Why do you even spend your time with us in baseball?
We're probably going to cut our program to make more money for football. Who cares about it? And I said, I do. And I said, I care about you guys. After that second loss, I was beside myself with knowing what to do and what not to do, what to say, what not to say. I send my kids down a left field line. just said a small prayer. What can I do to help these kids? How can I push them without breaking them? How can I get them to dream?
How can I get them to not give up like I had done so many times in my life? And the answer was simple, go down there and teach them what your grandparents taught you. And so I walked down the left field line, nobody's looking at me, I started talking about hopes and dreams and goals. I said, you guys, I gotta go out and live life. You can't let life live you. You don't ever let anybody dictate to you what you're gonna do with your life. This is your life.
You do great in the classroom. You do great on the field. You graduate from high school. You go to college, trade school, oil field. I don't care. But let it be your choice, not somebody else's. They pepped up. They started listening. In the back of my head, I'm like, my grandfather would be proud right now. And that's when my catcher, Joel, looked at me. goes, well, what about your dream? I said, my dream is to help you guys be successful.
Jim (25:03.401)
He said, but we think you still want to play baseball. I said, no, I'm 35. I've had nine surgeries. I'm missing 85 % of my deltoid muscles. So medically I'm out. And yeah, every time we get on a school bus, your moms are cooking for us. So I weigh 250 pounds. I'm a baseball coach, not a baseball player. But the coach, the way you teach us the game, we know your heart's still in it. We know what the other team's going to do before they do it because of you.
When you throw us batting practice, we can't hit it. And I said, that's because you can't hit. And then this 18 -year -old kid looks at me goes, well, why are you telling us to chase our dreams if you're not willing to do it yourself?
Jim (25:46.185)
Wow. And I looked at him and I, this is the relationship we had. He's 18. I go, you're 18. You need to shut up. And we get a goal and he goes, what if we start winning? I said, I can't do that. went through all the reasons again. He goes, what if we want a district championship, which these kids have never been a part of in baseball at that point. If we want a district championship in baseball, you try out.
So for 20 minutes, I argued about every reason I should never do that. And then after 20 minutes, I did what every parent in this country has done. I caved. I said, if you win a district championship, I'll try out. In the back of my mind, I'm like, you're old, you're fat, you should be getting out of baseball. But if it helps these kids, I can embarrass myself for a few minutes, Three months later, they win a district championship.
by coming back from a deficit, which normally they couldn't do. And I watched those kids score six runs and going into the last inning, we're up seven, three, and we win. And it's one of the best sights I've ever seen in my life. And I'm watching a group of kids celebrate something that nobody, including themselves, thought they could do.
And I'm soaking in the moment and I'm thinking, this is what I'm supposed to do. I go back to the bus, I start up, I look out at a group of kids celebrating this accomplishment. And for the first time in my life at 35, I understand what my grandparents, Alice and Ernest were teaching me. It's not about me, it's about we. What can we do?
to become better as a team. I'd learned about teamwork my entire life, but at 35, that was the biggest lesson that I got. And I had tears in my eyes. And up on the top step of the bus comes my second baseman, Nickname Whack. He was as big of a smart aleck as I am. He sees tears in my eyes and he starts giggling. I look up at him, I said, up. And...
Jim (27:52.873)
He pulls a baseball out from behind his back and everybody had signed it. Reagan County Owls, District 1 2A champs, 1999. I start crying harder. He hugs me around the neck and he goes, we did our part now it's your turn. I had completely forgotten about the bet. By the end of the season, I couldn't get these kids out. They're hitting me all over the ballpark. Why think about it anymore? We're winning. They're doing great.
I can't throw hard obviously because they're hitting me everywhere. Every kid get on that bus, we get our partner not your turn.
A month after baseball, I try out Howard Payne University. was my father who told me about the tryout. Hometown, Brownwood, Texas, Howard Payne, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, June 19th, 1999. First 50 or 60 kids to get there between 18 and 24 get to try out. Now, son, they may count you twice, you better, so you better get there early. Thanks, dad. Love you too.
I get there with my three kids at a time, eight, four, and one.
Doug Gasaway is a scout for Tampa. He's about 70. He looks up and he goes, how many kids you bring to the tryout? And I looked down and I said three. And he said, no, two tryout. And I said, let me explain a story to you. And I tell him the story and I said, it's going to be humiliating. It's going to be embarrassing. You're going to a great laugh out of it. But I promised those kids who do not believe in adults.
Jim (29:36.573)
that they will follow through with their word. And I said, I'm here. If you let me throw, I can embarrass myself and go home and tell them how badly I did. And he got a chuckle out of it and he goes, all right, but you're going to throw last. I wait around for four hours. We have a picnic, play games. I change diapers. We get sunburned. After four hours, he calls me out the mound. He hands me a baseball.
and said, how many pitches do you need to warm up? I said, to embarrass myself, Just like the pitch quickly run off the field, hopefully remembering to grab my kids on the way to the car. He giggled at that.
20 minutes later.
I get done. All the young kids through like 20 pitches, I'm up to like 60 and I'm like, they're making fun of the fat old guy and this is not funny. Cause that's me. My one year old's crying, they've been in the sun all day. put the kids in the car, turn the air on, gas way the scout meets me at the car. He goes, I remember you.
Back in the early 80s, you played for Brownwood High School. You were a football star. Everybody wanted to make a picture out of it. I said, yes, sir. He goes back then, you threw 87, 88, you touched 90 once in a while. And I said, yes, sir. He said, well, I don't know what you've done your time off, aside from eat. But that first pitch you threw without warming up was 94. Everything after that went up to 98. I'm stunned. You know, the first thing I am is like every person in the world who
Jim (31:09.289)
Someone comes up to him and goes, you're throwing 98 miles an hour. There's a happy dance going on in your head. But that is immediately followed by you have been throwing 98 to 100 at high school kids. You are getting sued is what you're getting. And he goes, don't be surprised if you get a phone call. He goes, when you got here, you were 35. I wrote down 32 year old lefty with great movement and great fastball.
Don't be surprised if you get a call back to come back and try out. said, if I come back again, can I be 29? And he giggled that too. He goes, only if I can be 35. Before I could get home an hour and 10 minutes later, there were already 12 calls and they wanted me to come back and try out again. And just like the movie, the rain was so bad, they had to hand me a brand new baseball every pitch, landing up to my knee in mud every time I landed. 98. Signed a contract.
Three months later, I'm in the big leagues.
When I did it for me, it never worked. When I did it for everybody but me, that's when the dream came back around and I got to find out what it was really like. And I understood much better at 35 what it took to get to that point in my life than I did at 18 thinking, this is how it's gonna be.
We've got to make our own mistakes to find our path. And my path with my faith has been solid and true, except for the times I've made some of biggest mistakes in my life and thought I was in control, only to find out I'm not in control of anything. It's bigger than me. And those kids were a part of that, and those kids taught me that. A group of teenagers.
Jim (33:01.193)
taught me to think more of myself than I did. And because of them, I got my dream at 35.
It doesn't get better than that.
Tim (33:12.27)
Yeah, it's, it's interesting bringing the kids into it because I think the older we get and I'm only 25 years old. So in the grand scheme of things, it still feels like I'm a kid, but I think the older we get, I think the mindset that you have to have is, and you had other kids to be able to help you with it. But I think it's how do you stay attached to that childlike version of yourself who had that pure
and childlike energy where felt like they could achieve anything in the world. Talk to me about making your major league debut.
Jim (33:53.769)
That day, September 18th, 1999.
Jim (34:01.513)
It's one of the most shocking and best days of my life. I get to the ballpark, you're 25 and you probably know this, but at 35, I didn't. The van that picked me up from the airport, the raised van, drives me underneath the stadium to our locker room. And I'm like, there's a road under here. No, there's a parking lot. All the Rangers have their expensive cars down here.
I had no idea. I had to sign a contract before I walk into the locker room. I walk in, the first person I meet is Wade Boggs, who had just gotten his 3000th hit a few weeks before. And they've heard about the crazy science teacher for three months now. He comes up and he hugs me and he goes,
Jim (34:52.444)
Man, that is the best story I've ever heard in life. And I'm like, I'm a coach and a fan, right? I'm like, you're Wade Boggs, you like chicken. It's stupid, right? There's the kid who missed a whole lot. And Roberto Hernandez, Fred McGriff, Jose Kinseko, Ozzy Gian, I mean all these guys. And they accepted me because they knew what I could do or I wouldn't be there.
And I go out and I stretch and I look across from these Jose Kinseko and next to me is Fred McGriff and the other side is Roberto Fernandez. I'm like, I was watching these guys six months ago on TV and now I'm a part of it.
At 35, you understand.
Jim (35:42.089)
how many curves can be in the road. And growing up and making mistakes and having to relearn and redo and retry and over and over again, things you did not even think of when you were 18. At 35, I didn't take anything for granted anymore. I knew it could be the blink of an eye or it could be what I was supposed to be, a ball player.
And for a short time, got to be a ballplayer. Johnny Oates, the opposing manager that day, God rest his soul, led 150 people in the game that day that had ties to me. My kids showed up. First time I'd seen my children in three months. First time I'd seen those kids in four months.
Jim (36:35.475)
People I went to college with showed up. People who said they went to high school with me showed up. don't know who they were. They were old by then. But it was amazing because they had all come to see the coach who made a bet and then followed it through, including the coach who had hired me in Fort Worth at a great big school, who when I told him what I was going to do, said, go enjoy being a kid again, but be back here August 1st for two days.
And the next time I saw that coach, he was at the ball game watching me pitch in a big league game. And something I had believed I could never do. I'd been told medically was impossible. But I had come back not only throwing harder, but more accurately with more control and with better pitches than I had the first time around. And.
People go, it's what you practiced, it's what you did. No, I didn't try to get in shape for the tryout. I thought I would embarrass myself. Why am gonna get in shape for a tryout where you're gonna go humiliate yourself and then go right back to coaching?
It was definitely a faith -based path that I took. And every way along, every step along the way, I just said a small prayer, what can I do? What is it you want? I'm hard -headed, I'm stubborn. You've seen me, I've made mistakes my entire life. If this is what you truly want, you've got to make it work for me, and it worked. And...
I don't know anybody who's had nine surgeries, including 85 % of their deltoid cut out. Come back after throwing 88 when they were young to throwing 98 to 102 when they 35. I just don't know. And there was a guy for the Red Sox last year, I think, who came back after several years out and he was throwing harder. And...
Jim (38:41.703)
I don't know the reason for that, I know it taught me a big lesson. Nothing is impossible.
Jim (38:50.025)
Don't ask anybody else to get dirty unless you're ready to get dirty yourself. So back to the first night in the big leagues. I'm like, I've thrown three days in the AAA playoffs. There is no way they're putting me in the game. But in the eighth inning, the phone rings and they're like, Morris warm up. And I'm like, they just want me to warm up in front of 40 ,000 people. That's cool. Two minutes later, I'm in the game.
And people have asked me, what was it like making that first run in from the bullpen to the mount? And I remember that five -year -old kid smelling the leather of a glove or the dirt on the field or the grass or the popcorn or the hot dogs. All of that came back to me as I made the run in from the bullpen to the mound, but also what was cycling through my head.
were all the good past and the bad past that I'd taken to get to that point. And the right things I did, the mistakes that I made, and I can honestly tell you and everybody listening that when I step my spikes onto the dirt of the ballpark and Arlington on the mound, I come to one conclusion. I would not change one thing about my journey. Because we know the beginning and we know the end, the journey is ours.
Jim (40:18.855)
That journey was perilous. That journey was fraught full. That journey was joyful at times. That journey was filled with best friends lost. Who I would have been with had I not been somewhere else at the time.
Jim (40:38.473)
And now those people who are my best friends who thought I would make an athlete no matter what my age was, now I'm doing it 35. 11 years after they passed away.
Jim (40:57.481)
is the best memory I've gotten in my life. And I've got kids and my kids are joyful. But being there at that point when my best friends said, think you'll make it.
Getting to do that 11 years later after they had passed away that was beyond measure. To strike out Royce Clayton, the first guy I face, he could have hit the ball nine miles. I wouldn't have cared. I was there. And then to walk off the field and having John Flaherty call me coach and flipping his glove over and handing me the ball I pitched with the strikeout Royce. Irreplaceable, immeasurable, there are no words.
It is one of the best moments of my life. And it was because of the good things and the mistakes that I've made my entire life that got me to that point. So I wouldn't change anything.
Tim (42:00.044)
quote once that said, fame doesn't change you, it changes everyone around you. And you took the MLB by storm to a certain degree. Were there ever moments where you're you felt like your ego was taking over or in other words, words putting a different spin on it? How did you make sure that you stayed grounded and level headed?
Jim (42:28.605)
I asked stupid questions when I got on buses when we were in different cities. With my first paycheck, because I'm a teacher, right? I went out and bought a very expensive pen with my first paycheck. That was in Anaheim. Then we go to New York. And as we're getting off the bus in downtown Manhattan, I ask anybody if they want to go to a museum with me. I will not tell you the responses I got, but the answer was no.
And it was just a different mindset that I had. so the ego check, no, I didn't take it for granted. Every ballpark I went to, I learned its history and I seen it on TV and now I'm seeing it in person. And the 10 year old baseball all -star who's setting the stands at Fenway watching Hank Aaron and Carlton Fisk hit.
At 35, now I'm pitching in that ballpark and I realized how close left field fence really is. And it still meant the same to me at 35 as it did when I was 10. Only I wasn't sitting in the stands, I was on the mound. And so there was no ego check to be had. I knew it could end at any moment in time. I was getting to do it at a time when I respected it a whole lot more than I did when I was younger.
Tim (43:56.194)
Yeah, that's cool to hear. It's almost like the older you got, the more you just reverted to that childlike version of yourself. Talk to me about the process of turning your story into the movie, The Rookie.
Jim (44:03.678)
Yeah.
Jim (44:11.131)
In AAA, I started getting phone calls from people offering me stuff like, Hey, I'm this. I was aging it. You can go play golf with Tiger Woods or there was this lady tennis player back then who was really good and you could play tennis with her. And I'm like, why would they want to do that? And no. And
Jim (44:34.505)
My roommate in baseball from minor leagues who actually quit professional baseball to go be a model in Europe for 10 years started calling me while I was in AAA. He goes, Hey, Michael Eisner and I are friends, president of Disney. And we think your story would make a great movie. We saw you on 2020. He goes, I told my guy, I know that guy. He was my roommate. And I said, yeah, haha, very funny. Not making a comedy dude. And I hung up.
But he kept calling back. And finally, I called my agent, Steve Kanner, and I said, dude, make this guy go away. We're talking about movies. He goes, they're not the only ones. And I kind of pass it off to Steve. And I said, you just take over. Well, the third day in the big leagues, we go to Anaheim. It's a Sunday. Bill Plashke, writer for the LA Times, writes this huge article about me and the Reagan County House on the front page, the sports page of that LA paper.
I go down to the restaurant, I pull out the sports page because that's what guys do. And I am all over the front page of the sports page in LA times. And I think that is the first time it hit me because I look up in the restaurant and everybody's staring at me. And I found out quickly about room service, which coaches in high school don't know about. And.
Over those four days that we're in Anaheim, I get to meet a multitude of Hollywood people. And lunches, brunches, dinners, people would come out the ballpark and watch me pitch. And I didn't like any of their ideas. They were like, we could do this and we could have that, be R rated. And I'm like, but that's not what this is about.
At Burbank when we got out for our meeting with Disney, which was the last group we met with, my agent looked at me and he goes, Steve goes, what is it you want? And I said, I want a movie made about kids who were counted out from the beginning, told they would never make it. But I also want that tied in to older people who got a second chance and were willing to take that risk and go do it.
Jim (46:54.313)
because you don't want to wake up one day when you're my age now and go, what if? I said, that's what I want. I want a movie about kids and second chances. And we go up and we sit down and Mark starts spilling this speech and Michael Eisner is putting his stuff in. And he goes, what we have in mind is a movie about kids who are counted out. And I'm like, Mickey Mouse has big ears.
They heard exactly what I said in the parking lot. And I was sold before he walked out of the door. They wanted to do exactly what I wanted. And it was amazing. And the people that they put in front of me who wanted to play me was a list of people that was my favorite actors in the world. it's Dennis Quaid ended up and still is a great friend of mine. And...
Now that he's in Nashville and we go out there, I call him every time we're coming out and 20 some odd years later, I'm still friends with a guy who played me in a movie who by all rights, I'm a teacher and educator and now speaker. Why would he want to be my friend? But he is. And that's because the relationship we built up on the movie set. And I owe that to a group of teenagers.
who when I pushed them to be the best they could be, they pushed their coach into a second chance.
Tim (48:24.844)
Yeah, that's awesome to hear. And I think that goes to the power of stories, how it can really bring people together. And what I love most about your story actually, and I honestly didn't even know this about you when I first started looking into you, because you're obviously known for being this incredible baseball player and having this incredible, unconventional journey to the major leagues. But I think what makes that so awesome is that
That's just one part of your story. And that's kind of the first half taking things past baseball and past the rookie. And we've spoken a lot about it already. You've dealt with a lot of injuries throughout your life and have had a lot of surgeries and have dealt with a ton of different physical problems like Parkinson's and CTE. And obviously there's a lot of people out there who
deal with all types of physical ailments and chronic pain. Talk to me about your relationship with pain and how it's evolved over the years.
Jim (49:38.185)
It goes back to teamwork. And it's not just about me being sick or me needing another surgery because stuff is breaking down. It's my wife who married a healthy 40 year old. And then she's taking care of me and raising our kids.
But the teamwork aspect comes back into it where when you got knocked down, somebody picked you back up and you got after it again. And so every surgery and every malady that comes along, I don't stay down and I don't put up with it. And as soon as I'm able, I get up and I get busy again because I speak now and I travel all around the world and
I want them to see a healthy version of me, not a worn down version. And so my deal is as an athlete and a former athlete to push myself as hard as I possibly can because I want to know my limits and I want to know what my limits are not. And so after each surgery and after each malady and you know, the CT thing, the movement specialist in Houston.
I don't recommend because he's got the worst bedside manner on the planet. We stopped at 30 concussions. And he goes, you got CTE. And I said, well, how do you prove that? He goes, well, you have to die. And I said, well, that's not happening right now. And.
CTE induced Parkinsonism within two years. It's Parkinson's. They give me medicine. It makes my stomach stop. I have to have my stomach cut out. Then I can't eat. Then the weight falls off. Well, then they're telling you, you're just going to get worse and worse. You see the people in the waiting room? That's you in a few years. Well, then you get lost and consumed in alcohol. And you think, well, that's the way. That'll help. Pills aren't working. This is when they're throwing opiates at people, man. I've got three months of Oxycontin in a bottle, and I've got refills on every one of them.
Jim (51:52.425)
That's not enough. So I started drinking vodka at 52. The faith falls away a little bit and I ended up in rehab. And it was a second chance. It was the first time in my life at the age of 52 that I got to concentrate on the youth, the child, the teenager, the failed marriage husband, and then my family now.
I got to concentrate totally on me without any of that involved. And I got to fix me. Do I still have stuff go wrong? Yeah. 2015, I had a deep brain stimulator put in because the medicine they gave me for Parkinson's worked perfectly, but it killed my stomach. So they put electrodes into my brain and said, this is going to be your medicine and it worked great. Well.
Jim (52:51.827)
Can I tell this story?
Tim (52:54.19)
course.
Jim (52:57.565)
There was probably after rehab and stuff, I started turning the machine down a little bit. I already had it pretty high. And I noticed that, it's not that bad.
Jim (53:14.153)
Two weeks before something happened, my wife has got the battery pack close to my chest and doesn't realize it and hits the off button, turns the battery off, I fall over. Literally fall.
Two weeks later in the middle of the night, I wake up and I hear scratching on my metal roof and I'm like, man, we must have a storm coming in or something. But my dog hears it and he starts growling and the hair on his neck stands up and I'm like, hmm.
get up, walk around the house. My faithful Labrador is guarding me from behind and there's nothing in the house. Go back to bed. Scratching starts again. We go outside. I look around. I don't see anything. I was at 311 in the morning.
At 311 that afternoon, I'm working out because I'm still working out because I'm an athlete and that's what athletes do, you work out. And so to overcome physical maladies, you get in shape. So I've got both doors of the garage open and I'm lifting weights and I just started hearing this voice, you're And I'm like, my friends are messing with me, man.
And my dog hears it, he gets up, we look around the side of the garage, there's nobody there. And I sit back down and it turns into more voices, you were healed. And then it turns into this voice.
Jim (54:51.155)
that is unexplainable, the warmth of this voice in the groin. You're healed.
Jim (55:00.315)
Okay. I walked in, my wife wasn't feeling well. She was laying down, taking a nap. I grabbed my battery pack and I just turned it off. I wasn't just turning it down. I turned it off. And for the first time in seven years, I closed my eyes and I spun a circle in the kitchen and she walked out when I was doing that. And she said, what are you doing? I said, watch this. And I closed my eyes and I turned a circle. Didn't lose my balance, didn't fall.
I said, I turned off the battery pack. And she said, what are you talking about?
Jim (55:37.193)
The part I left out was the next time Max and I walked outside my lab, there were feathers all over the ground.
And so I tell Shana the story and...
And I said, I'm healed. And I said, come out and look at this. I walked outside our driveway, the yard that was filled with feathers 10 minutes before there were no feathers anywhere, not one.
I'm like, well, that's strange. My neurosurgeon, who had been telling me it's going to get worse, makes me wait two years before he takes out my deep brain stimulator. And after two years, he sends me back to the lady who was in charge of the battery and the battery pack and turning it up and down the parameters on that. And she makes me do all these physical tests. And she's like, I don't get it. This doesn't happen.
people don't get well from this. And I say, well, here I am. I'm jumping and sitting and turning and doing everything you want me to do. And she goes, I know.
Jim (56:53.033)
but you were dragging your leg just to take a walk around the block two years ago. And I said, I know. I said, isn't that cool? And she asked to take a picture with me. She cleared me. In 2020, the year that everybody loves to hate now, I had a surgery. That was my first elective surgery. And I had the deep brain stimulator taken out.
Parkinson's hasn't returned. I run, I lift, I do what I want. Except for now the back's breaking down a little bit, but CTE, who knows? There are things I remember really well. There are some things that are kind of hazy, but for the most part, my vocabulary is still with it. And I'm like...
Jim (57:44.571)
If we listen to the people who are the professionals telling us how we can't get it done.
What is it that we can get done?
And so I don't look at the cat anymore. I just look at what's next.
Tim (58:03.938)
that resonates on a very, very deep level. When it comes to physical injuries or addiction, I feel like the jargon that's always used, especially in the medical field is always talking about recovery or rehab or pain management, which I don't think is the same as healing. What do you...
think the difference is between recovery and healing.
Jim (58:40.233)
I can't speak for anybody else on this. I can just speak for me. One was getting back at 52 sitting in rehab, looking at the wall, talking to God, going, why am I here?
to having a Christian counselor who had mementos in his office from every major league stadium that he had been to, which was every one, who waited two weeks before he called me in because he wanted to see how I was going to react to being there at 52. And when I walked in and sat down, he goes, why are you here?
And I said, because I forgot who I was. I listened to everybody else tell me what I couldn't do and tell me what was going to happen. And I said, I'm going out and living. I said, I was alive, but I wasn't living. He said, would you consider yourself a believer in Jesus? I said, absolutely. I said, and so you know he's sitting next to you. I yes.
He goes, let me ask you a question.
Jim (59:48.983)
If you have Jesus in the vehicle with you, why is he not driving?
And it all goes back to control. I thought I was in control and I lost sight of what was really important. I was listening to the medical field and I was listening to the pharmaceutical companies and I was buying vodka by the gallon because I'm in control of me. And then when I find out I'm not in control, recovery is very easy. And I wouldn't have it any other way. You're looking at someone.
who has had 90 surgeries.
And what did I do today? I got up and I did three and a half miles. I came home and I did a shoulder workout. Eight weeks after back surgery. Seven weeks after having infected teeth taken out. Get up and do it again. I don't take no for an answer. I don't give up. I don't step back. I just think of how my next line of attack is going to look. And I pray about it and I go do it.
Tim (01:00:59.094)
You say that walking helped you to reset and I'm a big believer mostly because of experience that physical movement, especially walking is one of the most important things that you can do for your mental health and mental clarity. I'd love to know more about your experience with walking and how that helps you.
Jim (01:01:23.589)
exactly what you just said. When I walk, I listen depending on my mood. I either have my faith music on or I've got my head banging music on from the 80s, which is now considered ancient, but.
Jim (01:01:40.711)
I get to think out my problems while I'm on the road and I get to clear my head out and I get all the negative thoughts out of my head because now I'm concentrating on God's vessel again. And my job is to keep the vessel as healthy as possible. And so getting out and walking and doing the miles is helping me free up everything else that I can do. Because I know if I can get up and do that, I even got
good person that I look up to and every day we go walking I see this little man who's got to be 95 years old who has bent over because his back is bent so bad his head is pushed down he's on a walker but by God he's out there walking and he will get to a corner he will look up he'll put his head back down and he'll get after it again that's what I want everybody to do
Get up and get after it again.
Tim (01:02:46.402)
Yeah, I mean, walking is such a basic activity, but it's so powerful. And I really didn't realize that until I probably started going for daily walks this past summer to two summers ago. And the mental clarity, like I said, that I came that I that I found through walking was unlike anything I'd ever found before. You know, I do a lot of weightlifting, like you have said as well, but it's just a different type of
experience. You've become a very seasoned public and motivational speaker. And what I respect the most about your mindset when it comes to speaking is that you say and you've already said it earlier in our conversation how you can only speak for yourself. And you say in your book, I never ventured to tell anyone what they should or shouldn't do. Instead, I relay my lived experiences, beliefs, unexplained events and what
had and hasn't worked for me. It's my story. And I think that's getting into a great relationship between experience versus expertise where I think there's a lot of people who try to be an expert or feel like they need to know more about a certain topic when in reality what
would probably just be more impactful as just speaking from experience because that's what you obviously know the most and that's most authentic. What do you think it is about your story that people resonate the most with?
Jim (01:04:26.771)
You know, don't think about this much, but at the time that all that happened.
I think I was the only person ever walked away from baseball for 11 years and then came back and actually through better.
Jim (01:04:46.153)
putting that aside, I don't think about that as often. Somebody actually mentioned that to me.
Jim (01:04:53.851)
I know what it's like to fail and I know what it's like to be told you can't or that you're not smart enough or that you're not good enough. And so my job as I see it is just to make fun of life, man, because
We can be sour and we can be dour and we can look down or we can look up and smile and go, I don't even care, man. I'm going to get up and do it again. And then you just go out and live. If we're living, we're not just being alive, we're living, we're doing, we're moving.
Tim (01:05:35.212)
Yeah, that's beautifully said. And I mean, what I love most about your story is the idea that everyone has their own timeline. It's so easy to feel like we're not on the right path or we're behind schedule. And your story really disproves that where you can have a very unconventional path, but
At the end of the day, everyone has their own path. Do you think your purpose has evolved over the years from baseball to now being a speaker or looking back on your life, do you see baseball as being that thing was a bridge to your purpose with everything that you do now?
Jim (01:06:03.699)
you
Jim (01:06:23.049)
Absolutely a bridge. And I learned how to be a speaker because I was in a classroom with teenagers. If you screw up in a classroom, they let you know it. And then going out and pitching in front of 40 ,000 people didn't hurt either. And that's a lot different than a high school game where there's 10 people. And the first time I actually did a speech,
And I didn't think I could because my father had pushed me down so far. I didn't even think what I had to say was worthy. And my agent, he goes, you're going to speak. And I said, you're out of your mind. I said, that's why I write a lot of notes on the board. So I don't have to talk that much. He goes, well, I've already forged your name on a contract. You're speaking to the major league soccer front office people. Next week, write your notes down, use your note cards, but don't just look down.
learn it. I didn't write anything down. And I went out to all these people who are executives at Major League Soccer and talked for an hour and a half and nobody moved. Nobody picked up a phone. Nobody went to the bathroom. Nobody was squirming. They were just drawn in. And that's, I think, following through with
Becoming a speaker has helped me because I know what it's like to fail and I know what it's like to have people tell you you're going to do nothing but fail. And so when people want pictures or autographs after speeches and they want to hang out and they want to tell me their story because everybody's got their own story. And they want to do that.
I'm more than willing to stay after every speech to sit there and talk to every last one of them. Because I want to hear their stories. There are some great stories out there. And I want them to know that somebody cares. And sometimes we put too much pressure on ourselves. And it's like trying to do a thousand pounds of squats and you're capable of doing 200 and it just weighs you down. You can't do it. And just having somebody go. You came through that. That is awesome.
Jim (01:08:42.725)
and being able to put an arm around somebody or shake somebody's hand and just tell them, way to keep going. Get up and do it again. Just reassure. And in the meantime, I'm getting filled with joy because I'm getting to hear all these stories from other people. And so I use a lot of humor in my talks because I'm a smart alec. But more than that, I make fun of me.
And that pulls people in because then I'm not making fun of people in the audience. I'm making fun of myself, but people in the audience are resonating with it because they've done the same thing. And so they're like, I've done that. And then you hear the giggles and, and it's also been cathartic for me with getting that little kid out because I get up and I get to talk about what it's like to be pushed down and punched down your whole life. And then to come out on top.
And it may have been a long road, and it may have been a lot of divides and lot of exits. But I was there, and now I'm here. And now I'm in front of you. I don't do that if I go play football.
Tim (01:09:56.782)
Jim, where can people go to connect with you and support all the work that you do?
Jim (01:10:01.885)
JimTheRookieMorris .com.
Tim (01:10:05.112)
Jim, I really appreciate you coming on the show. It's been an incredible conversation.
Jim (01:10:10.343)
Yes, sir. Thank you for having me.
