If you are a baseball fan, you may enjoy this movie based on real life stories of two baseball players and their discoverer. I am going to watch it.
---
Sports agent J.B. Bernstein has reason to celebrate as Million Dollar Arm hits the big screen Friday.
But six years ago long before he knew Jon Hamm would one day play him on screen it felt like he was in the bottom of the ninth with two strikes against him.
Bernstein once had an all-star client roster that included former NFL standouts Curtis Martin and Emmitt Smith, and baseball basher Barry Bonds. But as the high-profile clients retired, he felt emotionally spent.
I was just feeling so detached from this profession that I loved that I needed something new, Bernstein told the Daily News.
Thats when he swung for the fences.
Bernstein came up with an idea that would take him to India in search of the baseball equivalent of Chinese NBA superstar Yao Ming.
They play cricket and the dimensions of the ball and the field are similar to baseball, Bernstein said. It seemed like theres gotta be somebody who would be able to throw a baseball.
Inspired by American Idol, he created Million Dollar Arm an Indian reality-TV contest that scoured the country in search of its first major league pitcher. The winner would get $100,000, plus a trip to America for a Major League Baseball tryout.
It was a bold plan.
Once I met (Bernstein), I thought, Wow, hes amazing. He is a force of nature, Hamm said.
After several fits and starts, Bernstein discovered Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, two 17-year-olds who, despite having never played baseball, could throw a fastball more than 85 miles an hour.
Although they couldnt speak English and had never been outside their impoverished villages, they became national inspirations in their home country when Bernstein brought them to California.
The two stayed in Bernsteins bachelor pad home, overcoming culture shock, the language barrier and homesickness.
I thought I was never going to succeed, says Singh, now 25, who reached Class A in the Pirates organization but is out until at least August with a shoulder injury. After seeing (the level of competition), we had it in our mind that we were never, ever going to sign with any pro team, but at the same time were going with the flow and learning.
And the movie doesnt pull any punches, especially when it comes to the curveballs all involved had to deal with.
Its amazing how accurate the movie is. Its like reliving those moments, good and bad, Bernstein said. I was a fish out of water in India; Rinku and Dinesh were fish out of water here.
Spoiler alert: There was a happy ending, as both of the players signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.
But thats not the only development that made this true story have such a Hollywood ending Bernstein also got the girl.
Brenda, his next-door neighbor (played by Lake Bell), swooped in to help form a surrogate family. Bernstein married Brenda, and the couple has a 3-year-old daughter.
And seeing Million Dollar Arm hit the theaters with dashing Don Draper playing Bernstein was humbling.
For Jon to choose this part was a big honor, Bernstein said. Its surreal. I mean, I was actually named Peoples least sexy man alive!
?Million Dollar Arm? tells story of J.B. Bernstein?s search for India?s first MLB pitcher - NY Daily News
---
Sports agent J.B. Bernstein has reason to celebrate as Million Dollar Arm hits the big screen Friday.
But six years ago long before he knew Jon Hamm would one day play him on screen it felt like he was in the bottom of the ninth with two strikes against him.
Bernstein once had an all-star client roster that included former NFL standouts Curtis Martin and Emmitt Smith, and baseball basher Barry Bonds. But as the high-profile clients retired, he felt emotionally spent.
I was just feeling so detached from this profession that I loved that I needed something new, Bernstein told the Daily News.
Thats when he swung for the fences.
Bernstein came up with an idea that would take him to India in search of the baseball equivalent of Chinese NBA superstar Yao Ming.
They play cricket and the dimensions of the ball and the field are similar to baseball, Bernstein said. It seemed like theres gotta be somebody who would be able to throw a baseball.
Inspired by American Idol, he created Million Dollar Arm an Indian reality-TV contest that scoured the country in search of its first major league pitcher. The winner would get $100,000, plus a trip to America for a Major League Baseball tryout.
It was a bold plan.
Once I met (Bernstein), I thought, Wow, hes amazing. He is a force of nature, Hamm said.
After several fits and starts, Bernstein discovered Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, two 17-year-olds who, despite having never played baseball, could throw a fastball more than 85 miles an hour.
Although they couldnt speak English and had never been outside their impoverished villages, they became national inspirations in their home country when Bernstein brought them to California.
The two stayed in Bernsteins bachelor pad home, overcoming culture shock, the language barrier and homesickness.
I thought I was never going to succeed, says Singh, now 25, who reached Class A in the Pirates organization but is out until at least August with a shoulder injury. After seeing (the level of competition), we had it in our mind that we were never, ever going to sign with any pro team, but at the same time were going with the flow and learning.
And the movie doesnt pull any punches, especially when it comes to the curveballs all involved had to deal with.
Its amazing how accurate the movie is. Its like reliving those moments, good and bad, Bernstein said. I was a fish out of water in India; Rinku and Dinesh were fish out of water here.
Spoiler alert: There was a happy ending, as both of the players signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.
But thats not the only development that made this true story have such a Hollywood ending Bernstein also got the girl.
Brenda, his next-door neighbor (played by Lake Bell), swooped in to help form a surrogate family. Bernstein married Brenda, and the couple has a 3-year-old daughter.
And seeing Million Dollar Arm hit the theaters with dashing Don Draper playing Bernstein was humbling.
For Jon to choose this part was a big honor, Bernstein said. Its surreal. I mean, I was actually named Peoples least sexy man alive!
?Million Dollar Arm? tells story of J.B. Bernstein?s search for India?s first MLB pitcher - NY Daily News
