Mr. 3000
From Harpo's Juke Joint
| Mr. 3000 | ||
 He's putting the "I" in "team".
| ||
| view the trailer | ||
| Directed by Charles Stone III | ||
| Released | September 17, 2004 | |
| Distributor | Buena Vista | |
| Length | 1 hr 44 min | |
| Starring | Bernie Mac Angela Bassett Brian J. White Dondre Whitfield Amaury Nolasco Michael Rispoli | |
| Rated | PG-13 | |
| Total gross | $21,838,181 | |
| Website | n/a | |
| Fanlisting | n/a | |
| buy the DVD at Amazon | ||
| Soundtrack by various artists | ||
| Length | n/a | |
| Label | Hollywood Records | |
| Producer(s) | Babyface | |
| buy the soundtrack at Amazon | ||
| Charles Stone III timeline | ||
|---|---|---|
| Paid in Full (2002) | Mr. 3000 (2004) | Tekken (2007)
|
Mr. 3000 is a sports comedy directed by Charles Stone III. The film featured cameos from notable names in sportcasting, as well as a brief appearance from Italian-American film legend Paul Sorvino as field manager Gus Panas. Reviews were mixed, and the movie grossed $22 million. Mr. 3000 is available on DVD and VHS.
Contents |
Plot
First baseman Stan Ross (played by Bernie Mac) is the star of the Milwaukee Brewers, a baseball team in the midst of a pennant race in 1995. While the team is focused on making it to the World Series, Ross is more concerned with his individual performance and his future place in the Baseball Hall of Fame. During a playoff game, Ross makes his 3,000th regular season base hit, tying him with baseball legend Roberto Clemente for the most amount of hits by a single player. He quits the team mid-race, retires from baseball and uses his new nickname "Mr. 3000" to open up a number of franchises while waiting from the call from Cooperstown.
Ross was never a favorite of the media thanks to his cocky demeanor, and the powers that be can't forgive Stan for abandoning his team in the middle of a pennant race. Though Ross is considered for the Hall every year, the tally of votes always falls short of the necessary 75% approval rate. To make matters worse, it is discovered that three of Ross's hits were recorded twice. Not only does this take him out of the 3000 Hit Club, it renders his entire franchise invalid, as all of the names of the businesses have the number "3000" in them. The only way for Ross to save face is to re-enter the League and make three more base hits - despite the fact that he hasn't played baseball in over nine years and is ridiculously out of shape. While most major teams teams would laugh at the idea, the Brewers are an abysmal baseball team who needs the publicity and hope that resigning Ross will mean a rise in ticket sales.
Although viewed as nothing but a selfish joke from a washed-up megalomaniac, sports writers turn out in full force to cover Stan's return from retirement - if for no other reason than add comedy to their broadcasts. One of those reporters is ESPN correspondent Maureen "Mo" Simmons (Angela Bassett), Stan's ex-girlfriend. Stan and Mo broke up shortly before Stan's retirement, due to his inability to settle down and become a one-woman man. Ross's new teammates aren't too fond of him either, thanks to Ross's disparaging remarks about the "Little Leaguers" and his claims that he would bring the team back to former greatness. The Brewers' new star is "T-Rex" Pennebaker (Brian J. White), whose showboating and hit-counting shows traits of a young Stan Ross. The legendary Ross is forced to bat 8th in the rotation, a slot usually reserved for rookies and bench warmers.
Eventually, Stan becomes a superstar all over again, despite the fact that he only gets two hits for 58 at-bats. Ross is no longer selfish, encouraging his fellow players to play team ball. It's his new attitude that not only helps get his team back into the pennant race, but wins Mo's heart all over again. Still, Stan's batting average is lousy, and with only more game to go, Stan finds himself one hit short of his goal.
Trivia
- Ian Anthony Dale had difficulty playing Japanese pitcher Fukuda. Dale was a catcher in college, and the natural throwing reflexes of a catcher are very different than that of a pitcher.
- After college, Brian J. White was signed to two American professional sports teams: the New England Patriots (football) and the Boston Blazers (lacrosse). His father is JoJo White, a former member of the Boston Celtics.
- On the outtakes reel, Minadeo (Amaury Nolasco) calls out the character "Terence Frye", and Skillet (Dondre Whitfield) replies with "All My Children!" AMC fans will remember that Whitfield played Frye from 1991-1994.
- The sports bar that Stan Ross owns shows baseballs in glasses cases - one for every hit he allegedly scored. But there are only 500 balls. The crew moved the cases depending on the shot to give the illusion of 3,000 balls.
- A frame-by-frame closeup of Stan's second to last at-bat in the final game shows that he was indeed safe at first.
- Despite having made 3,000 hits in his career before his first retirement, Ross is repeatedly rejected from the Hall of Fame. In reality, this never would've happened; every baseball player who has made over 2,800 hits since 1947 is in the Hall of Fame, regardless of personal reputation. The lone exception is all-time base hitter Pete Rose, who is banned from baseball - and thus, from the Hall as well.
- Gus Panas (Paul Sorvino) is an obvious ringer for New York Yankees manager Joe Torre. Sorvino played Torre in the 1997 television film Curveballs Along the Way.
- A collector's item is the Mr. 3000 poster with the release date of 24 September, which was the original release date of the film. Later, posters were printed with the correct date.
- When Mr. 3000 was first advertised, it was mistakenly stated that Ross's 3,000 hits would be a "record", which is only slightly true. By 1995, 26 baseball players had 3,000 or more base hits.
Goofs
- The ESPN television show Rundown is featured prominently throughout this film, but the small clock that's usually shown throughout the show is never seen.
- Mr. 3000 starts in the year 1995, but the pitcher who throws the ball that becomes hit number 3,000 is wearing a model of glove that had yet to be created, the Rawlings Pro Preferred. Also, the stadium the Brewers are playing in (Miller Park) wasn't built until 2000, and didn't open until 2001.
- When the Brewers play the Houston Astros at Enron Park (now Minute Maid Field), the numbers on the home jerseys are black with a red border, but should've been completely red.
- Ross gets his 3,000th hit on 29 July 1995, but the date on the ball case is 12 August 1995. Also, the ball is an Official Major League baseball, which wasn't made until 2000. (The correct ball would've been an Official American League baseball.)
- Perhaps a mistake on the sportscaster's part, but an error nonetheless: Tom Arnold mentions a midget who "played for the White Sox". 3'7" Eddie Gaedal played for the St. Louis Browns in 1951, and only for one game.
- In the 1995 opening game, a batboy is shown wearing the 2001 Brewers jersey.
- Ross states that the baseball writers can't keep him out of the Hall of Fame. But every pro baseball player knows that the voting committee is made up of nothing but baseball writers, not players. The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) was free to bar Ross for up to ten years post-retirement. After that, the Veterans Committee (made up mostly of Hall of Famers) would be allowed to nominate Ross every two years.
- At the end of the film, Ross is elected to the Hall on "the very next ballot". But Hall of Famers aren't eligible until five years after their last game. Once Ross retired for the second time, he would've had to wait five more years to be eligible.
Clips
