Rookie of the Year
A determined 12‑year‑old boy dreams of stepping onto a major league mound, but his tiny stature and self‑doubt threaten to keep him sidelined; when a pro team offers a tryout, he must prove he’s got the heart to swing for the fences.
“The Chicago Cubs needed a miracle... They got Henry Rowengartner.”
Synopsis
Twelve-year-old Henry Rowengartner, whose late father was a minor league baseball player, grew up dreaming of playing baseball, despite his physical shortcomings. After Henry's father passed away, his mother, Doris, moved the family to a small town in Nebraska, where Henry struggled to fit in and find his place. When a local baseball team offers him a chance to try out, Henry must overcome his fears and prove to himself and others that he is capable of more than he ever imagined.
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 31
These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Raja GosnellShot by Jack N GreenScored by Bill ContiDesigned by Steven J Jordan
Box Office
1993 · Box office
⚖️ Fell short of break-even — grossed 1.8× its budget
Why 2.5×?
Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).
Worldwide gross
$56.5M
US & Canada: $53.6M — 95% of worldwide · International: $2.9M (5%)
Opening weekend: $9.1M — 17% of its US run.
Opening week (7-day): $18.2M — 34% of its US & Canada run.
Peak 1,460 theaters
Also known as
- Der Durchstarterde
- El novato del añoes
- La Star de Chicagofr
- La recluta dell'annoit
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Cast & Crew
31 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Thomas Ian Nicholas
as Henry Rowengartner
Robert Hy Gorman
as Clark
Patrick Labrecque
as George
Daniel Stern
as Brickma
Gary Busey
as Chet Steadman
Albert Hall
as Martinella
Amy Morton
as Mary Rowengartner
Dan Hedaya
as Larry 'Fish' Fisher
Bruce Altman
as Jack Bradfield
Eddie Bracken
as Bob Carson
Tom Milanovich
as Heddo
Neil Flynn
as Stan Okie
Supporting cast
8Directors
1Writers
1Producers
1Other crew
9Parents Guide
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