Jim Morris understands better than most aspiring professional ballplayers, the road to MLB success is often littered with detours.
The 21 games tossed and 15 innings of relief work pitching for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1999 and 2000 didn’t come easy for Morris. Five years of toiling in Single-A ball, across seven seasons in the minor leagues, weren’t signaling a bright future in the game, let alone a roster spot on the MLB level. After being granted free agency from his Chicago White Sox minor league deal in the fall of 1989, it would be another decade before Morris would find himself once again looking for attention from scouts about a pitching job.
