MovieChat Forums > Million Dollar Arm (2014) Discussion > OK, so they were signed by an MLB team

OK, so they were signed by an MLB team

posted 11 years ago by NxNWRocks
5 replies | jump to latest

That's nice but it's not really something to base a movie on. Teams sign and draft all kinds of guys, a lot of whom don't make it. The guy from The Rookie made it to the big leagues - to me, the fact they both struggled to get very far in the minor leagues undermines the feel-good factor of their story.

Also, out of a population of 1.2 billion, statistically it shouldn't be a surprise that there's a couple of guys who can throw a baseball fast.

"Worthington, we're being attacked by giant bats!"

[–] Doc80 11 years ago

They are trying to make it like a Jackie Robinson type story. Of them being the first to break through. Obviously these guys had and still have trouble, in one case anyway, with doing this but the point is that they are trying. I'm sure there are a lot of people over there that can throw a baseball hard but the issue is that baseball is not popular at all in India. So the idea is that if a player from India can break through and become successful, that would open up India and get more of them interested in baseball.

[–] dr_buttstick 11 years ago

except Jackie Robinson was a truly great player in a hugely different time period.

one of these dudes already retired from baseball after achieving no real success.

the other is still technically active despite not advancing far whatsoever in the pirates system and not pitching at all last year due to injury.

no clue how this is enough story to fill a movie..unless they reallllllllllllllllllllly stretch the truth on this one

[–] Doc80 11 years ago

Let's also remember that neither one of them had ever picked up a baseball until less than a year before they signed. How many guys have signed a contract with a major league franchise with so little experience?

[–] macquarrie-1 11 years ago

It's really not a sports movie. Baseball is really pretty incidental to the story, which is really about the sports agent's personal growth and the changes to his life that come as a result of the TV show/contest and working with the winners when they come to the US. It's a very good movie.

[–] den_quixote 11 years ago

Perhaps there is an area in which you are completely ignorant, and yet after ten months of intensive preparation in the field, in a foreign country, you could be hired to work professionally in it. Film criticism maybe.