Hobby Musings: Jim Morris describes life after ‘The Rookie’ in new book – For many people, former major league pitcher Jim Morris is best known for his inspiring comeback story that was chronicled in the film, ‘The Rookie’. Ready to tell a different story about his life though, Mr. Morris is releasing a new book on June 23rd titled “Dream Makers: Surround Yourself with the Best to Be Your Best”. To find out more about what went into his latest work, I had the chance to catch up with Mr. Morris.
KS: What made you decide to write your upcoming book?
JM: Over the last 20 years, people have gone your movie is awesome, your story is awesome, Dennis is awesome. But what about since then? What’s happened since all of that? It’s basically me telling a speech about my life after the baseball. I’ve had over 50 surgeries in 20 years, have had a battle with Parkinson’s Disease, had a battle with painkillers, my faith has been lifted back.
All of that is my story since then and is covered in the book. It’s done openly and with humor. You surround yourself with the best to be the best. I included a faith chapter, and that was very important to me to have in there.
KS: This isn’t the first book you’ve had released. How did preparing for this one compare and contrast to your 
other book?
JM: Totally differently. This one wasn’t bound by anything that Disney had done per se. This is real life and what happened to me. All of the process with the previous one and all its publicity was so fast and furious, that I don’t remember a lot of it.
This one is all me, and we didn’t get the ending until three years ago. Once we got that ending, it was time to go to print. I hope it’s inspiring to anyone going through a tough time similar to what I went through. I also hope it shows you can overcome that adversity. We need positivity more than ever now with all the challenges going on because of the coronavirus pandemic. Every failure is a step closer to where it is you wannna be.
KS: What do you think was the hardest part of preparing this book?
JM: Speaking mostly with corporate America and getting the faith chapter in there. That chapter was the hardest one to write, because I was worried that it might close doors to my speaking career. My faith is very important to me, but it’s something that can generate different reactions for different people. I think you’ll get some people who read that chapter and connect with it, others who don’t care for it and others who are indifferent to it.
KS: One of the parts about books is doing things like publicity tours and signings. With the coronavirus going on, that’s a bit of a challenge. How have you gone about getting the word out for this book?
JM: We started getting asked to do virtual interviews because of the pandemic, and it’s been cool being able to do them. Dennis Quaid’s podcast came out recently, and I was on that. Dennis and I have become friends and we still talk. When I asked him to write the foreword for the book, I thought he would say no, but he was happy to do so. When I got the foreword back from him and read it, the emotions definitely came out for me. It meant a lot to me.
KS: For any fan who would like a signed copy of your book, how would you go about doing so?
JM: I’ve signed a lot of book plates. I actually just ordered some more recently. If you want to get a discount on the book and a signed version, you can go to Dreammakersbook.com. Supplies of the autographed book plates are limited though, so if you want to have one, you might be better off ordering it sooner rather than later.
KS: You’ve had several trading cards released already. That being said, if you were able to have another one, what would you want it to feature?
JM: That’s a tough question. I wouldn’t want to be pictured in a suit and tie or a baseball uniform. I don’t know exactly what the picture would be, but I would definitely want it to show my family and me, because we’re in this together. We have a core team we can depend on, and we need that. So I’d want a family picture on a trading card.
KS: What else would you like people to know about the book?
JM: I guess the one thing I would say is that my mother-in-law proofread it. There are some grammatical errors that were in there that she found. When providing the feedback, she said this book sounds like Jimmy talking on stage. To me that, that is a huge complement because that’s what we were shooting for with it. Something that authentically captures the ups and downs, the laughs. If you can’t have fun with your life, you’re not doing something right.
Hobby Musings: Jim Morris describes life after ‘The Rookie’ in new book
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