Inspirational People

Jim Morris: Devil Rays

This is a story about Jim Morris, 35, a high school physics/chemistry teacher and coach. Jim Morris was also a former baseball minor leaguer who had not played in 12 years. He thought his baseball dreams were over and decided to put his energies into helping others through coaching and teaching.

In the spring of 1999 he gathered his Reagan County High baseball team together to convince them they could make the playoffs for the first time in several years.

"Go for your dreams, go past your dreams, Set your goals and . . . "

"Wait a minute," some of his players interrupted, "What about your dreams?"

They asked, because they had come to could see how great a pitcher he was. Every day his prowess showed by the way he threw so hard that only a few of the players would bat against him, and the catcher was afraid to catch him.

"Fine," he told his team that day. "You make the playoffs, I'll try out for the major leagues."

Then in June, after his team had qualified for the playoffs, Morris, although extremely uncomfortable, found himself sitting in his car outside a Tampa Bay Devil Rays tryout session. For a while he couldn't bring himself to get out of the car.

The Devil Rays scouts openly laughed when they saw Morris, and asked him if had brought some kids to tryout, he said. "No, it's just me.", and he told them his story about how his students challenged him to come. The scouts placed him at the bottom of the schedule. He waited for almost 2 hours, and watched, and almost went back home, but didn't, wouldn't, couldn't.

"I had a made a promise," Morris said.

Jim Morris discovered that day that those hard pitches he was throwing in high school batting practice were 98 mph.

A month later, he was throwing 98 mph in the minor leagues.

Three months later, one Saturday afternoon, on a big-league mound in Arlington, Texas, he was throwing 98 mph for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays against the Texas Rangers.

"This is still amazing," he said. "This is still unbelievable. I'm not sure I'm comprehending any of it."

Somebody recently asked him what sort of odds he would have placed on making the major leagues.

He politely explained that it wasn't a matter of odds.

"Chance? I had no chance," he said. "None at all. I was going to try out and go home."

"Nothing ever went right for Jimmy in his baseball career," wife Lorrie said. "Nothing ever worked out, and sometimes I wonder if he ever really got over it."

He was once a good enough pitcher to be drafted by Milwaukee in the first round of the now-defunct winter draft in 1983. Then he was throwing "only" 87 mph. Amazingly his speed increased over the past 10 years. Morris says he he has no idea why, but
".., maybe it is just God saying it's my time."

After three seasons, he had to stop due to damage to his elbow and shoulder. Surgeries sidelined him after the 1987 season at 23. Morris decided to get as far away as possible.

"He couldn't even watch a major league game, because somebody he once played with would be playing, and it would kill him," Lorrie, his wife, said. "I really felt for him."

"This is still amazing," he said. "This is still unbelievable. I'm not sure I'm comprehending any of it."