Last week, Walt Disney pictures released the motion picture Million Dollar Arm to the world. As most of you have seen through viewing the movie or trailers or the many interviews with the actors, it’s another one of their feel-good stories about how two kids from India who went from knowing nothing about baseball to pitching in the minor leagues for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
What many of you don’t know is the excitement, hard work, and pure love of the game wasn’t scripted. It is an actual love and respect for the game that Rinku Singh still values today, even as he is taking a year off from baseball due to Tommy John surgery.
For Singh, this movie is a good reminder of where he came from and how grateful he is of the opportunity that came from out of nowhere by a sports agent taking a big chance.
“This is just a quick reminder for me to just take a look at what I’ve been through in my life and I’m still the same guy as I was back in the day, but this is something to keep me straight and keep me from not doing anything stupid,” said Singh. “Be the same kid that left the country and always remember why I’m here.”
Singh and Dinesh Patel didn’t take the opportunity for granted as shown in the film, but their work was far more than what you saw on the big screen as their days spent in the states consisted of sleep and baseball. It was that drive that allowed two young men who had no sense of America’s pastime to become members of a Major League organization.
“We did a lot of hard work,” said Singh. “I never picked up a baseball and coming to a strange country, coming to a strange environment. We wanted to stay on the field as long as we could so we could learn. It wasn’t all about just going to show our face on the field and come back. If I did that, I wouldn’t be here, so that’s something like twelve hours, eight hours, nine hours. Whatever it took. Whenever we felt we left it all out on the field, that’s when we left the field. That was every single day.”
Patel isn’t with the Pirates organization anymore, but Singh turned into a solid reliever in the farm system in 2011 recording a 2.45 ERA in 40 1/3 IN between rookie ball and A while striking out 32 and walking 11. In 2012, he spent his time with Class-A West Virginia where he recorded a 3.00 ERA in 72 IN while striking out 65 and walking 18.
He was then sidelined with a forearm injury and underwent Tommy John surgery which has him missing this season. It hasn’t dampened his spirits as John Hamm, who played JB Bernstein in the movie, worked with Singh during filming and says his love for the game hasn’t changed from day one.
“It states to the measure of his character that he’s gone through this experience and stayed humble and stayed grateful and positive in the same light,” said Hamm. “You can totally hear it in his voice. He seems like a little kid still and that’s a big part of the story of the film and the story of baseball. It’s grown men playing a young man’s game. It’s a little boy’s game and you got to have fun. The more fun you have, the looser you are and the more you can play.”
If you are wondering if Singh has seen the movie….He has, but it sends him a different message than the one intended for everyone else viewing it. It is a good reminder to Singh about the hard work and dedication that he’s put in and the message to keep positive through whatever comes his way.
“It was the first time, but I’m very proud the way they did it and for me, it’s just a reminder,” said Singh. “Not many people can tell you where you have been in your life and sometimes you forget where you have come from and this is something that I can always look back to who I am and who I was and I want it to stay like that. Just to continue the hard work and never quit.”
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(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
