Mr. 3000
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Mr. 3000 is a 2004 Touchstone Pictures film starring Bernie Mac and Angela Bassett.
[edit] Plot
The story follows Stan Ross (Bernie Mac) who was a Milwaukee Brewers baseball star with 3,000 hits that earned him the nickname "Mr. 3000." However, years later, it is discovered (due to a clerical error) that he is three hits short of that total, so a 47-year-old Ross returns to the game to get three more hits and secure his place in the record books and keep his local post-career marketing gimmick from being invalid.
After recording what's believed to be his 3000th hit, a selfish Ross retires and leaves the Brewers, leaving the team without one of their star players in the middle of the 1995 playoff race, making for a hostile environment when he returns. But the Brewers' upper management, citing the large attendance at Ross' number retirement ceremony and the fact that the Brewers are out of playoff contention, agree to bring Ross back during the September roster expansion. The Brewers' younger players only know Ross for as the self-centered player that he was before and T-Rex (Brian J. White), the pompous star of their current roster, thinks of Ross as a washed up has-been and feels the team doesn't need him. Manager Gus Panas (Paul Sorvino) refuses to talk to Ross because of the bad blood left between the two after Ross' first retirement, and the sports writers make him an easy target for criticism.
Ross struggles to regain his baseball form despite his predictions to the contrary. Eventually, he connects with two more hits, bringing his total to 2,999. In the process, Ross becomes a mentor to the younger players on the team, inspiring them to a late-season comeback to a respectable finish. In his last at-bat of the season, Ross gives up a chance at hit number 3,000 so the team can finish 3rd in its division. Although Ross never gets 3,000 hits, he is ultimately inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame.
[edit] Trivia
- Had Stan Ross actually played in Major League Baseball and had 2,997 hits, he would have been 26th all-time in the Major Leagues between Roberto Clemente who had 3,000 hits and Sam Rice with 2,987.
- Early advertising material for the movie said 3,000 hits was a "record," an error dropped from later ads. Every Major League player with 2,800 hits or more is presently enshrined in Cooperstown, with the following exceptions: Pete Rose (current hit record-holder, who is banned from appearing on the official ballot [when Rose earns write-in votes, they are declared invalid]); Cal Ripken, Tony Gwynn, and Harold Baines (who are retired but not eligible for HOF induction until 2007); Rickey Henderson and Rafael Palmeiro (neither of whom has officially retired yet); and Craig Biggio and Barry Bonds (who are both still active).
- The focus of the movie is Ross' quest for 3,000 hits, since it is virtually tantamount to Hall of Fame election. Despite this, he fails to be elected in his first four years of eligibility. The reason for this is because of his problems with the press (the sportswriters who vote on his entry) and his leaving the team right after getting his 3000th hit). The movie does say, however, that the number of votes needed for his entry has been decreasing every year. It is only after he learns to be a team player that the sportswriters elect him into the Hall.
- Ross makes a point of telling the writers that they can't keep him out of the Hall. Though players are voted in by baseball writers, players turned down for election by the writers can still enter via election by a another committee also comprised of former players and Hall members, however this would also be unlikely considering his selfish attitudes.
- Most of the baseball game scenes were filmed at Miller Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The film drew large crowds in 2003 at the park, with some of the scenes for the film being shot between innings of actual games.
- Had Stan Ross actually played until the 1995 season, however, his 3,000th/2,997th hit would have happened at Milwaukee County Stadium, a stadium that served as the stand-in for Cleveland Municipal Stadium during the filming of Major League, since it was newer and in better shape. It had been torn down by the time Mr. 3000 was made. Miller Park was built in County Stadium's center field parking lot, and a youth baseball field was put on the former site of County Stadium. This can be seen in one scene.
- Dane Cook makes a cameo as the sausage mascot (the Hot Dog).
- SportsCenter usually has a ticker on the bottom of the screen; during a clip of the show for the movie, they show the day's upcoming games including the 2003 American League Championship Series, both of which do not occur during the Milwaukee Brewers Season.
- John Travolta, Richard Gere and Denzel Washington were each, at one point or another, set to star in the film.
- Bernie Mac, a Chicago native, trained with the Chicago Cubs in order to get in shape for the film.
- In Ross's second at-bat of his final game, the umpire does indeed blow the call at first base, ruling Ross out on the force at first when he clearly is safe by a step.
- When Ross is walking to the plate with 2,999 hits (the first time...at the beginning of the movie), the announcer states "Will this be the at bat..." then states the date..."that Stan Ross hits number 3,000." This is almost identical to the real television call by Joe Buck when Mark McGwire had 61 home runs and then hit number 62 to break what was then the single season home run record set by Roger Maris in 1961.
- In several of the 1995 scenes of the film, fans and stadium staff can be seen wearing modern Brewers apperal.
[edit] External links
- Mr. 3000 at the Internet Movie Database
