"Rookie of the Year" is a 1955 half-hour baseball drama directed by

John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...

and starring John Wayne,

Vera Miles Vera June Miles (née Ralston, born August 23, 1929) is an American retired actress who worked closely with Alfred Hitchcock, most notably as Lila Crane in the classic 1960 film ''Psycho'', reprising the role in the 1983 sequel '' Psycho II''. ...

Ward Bond Wardell Edwin Bond (April 9, 1903 – November 5, 1960) was an American film character actor who appeared in more than 200 films and starred in the NBC television series ''Wagon Train'' from 1957 to 1960. Among his best-remembered roles are B ...

, and Patrick Wayne, all of whom Ford would direct in ''

The Searchers ''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American Technicolor VistaVision epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas-Native American wars, and stars John Way ...

'' the following year. This film was an installment of the television anthology series '' Screen Director's Playhouse''. A sportswriter ( John Wayne) realizes that a talented young rookie ( Patrick Wayne) is the son of a former

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

player (

), who was banned from playing

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

for life because of his participation in the

1919 World Series The 1919 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1919 season. The 16th edition of the World Series, it matched the American League champion Chicago White Sox against the National League champion Cincinnati Reds. ...

scandal, a.k.a. the

Black Sox Scandal The Black Sox Scandal was a Major League Baseball game-fixing scandal in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for money from a gambling syndicate le ...

. All the characters in this story are fictional, but the character played by

is strongly suggestive of the real Shoeless Joe Jackson. Patrick Wayne would later play a similar role in a 1962 television drama, also directed by

, called ''

Flashing Spikes "Flashing Spikes" is a 1962 television play directed by John Ford and starring James Stewart, with a lengthy surprise appearance by John Wayne, billed in the credits as "Michael Morris" (apparently based on Wayne's birth name "Marion Michael Mo ...

'', starring James Stewart and featuring John Wayne in a lengthy surprise appearance for which he was billed as "Michael Morris."

Cast

* John Wayne as Mike Cronin *

as Ruth Dahlberg *

as Buck Goodhue *

Pat Wayne Patrick John Morrison (born July 15, 1939), better known by his stage name Patrick Wayne, is an American actor. He is the second son of movie star John Wayne and his first wife, Josephine Alicia Saenz. He made over 40 films, including eleven w ...

as Lyn Goodhue *

James Gleason James Austin Gleason (May 23, 1882 – April 12, 1959) was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter born in New York City. Gleason often portrayed "tough-talking, world-weary guys with a secret heart-of-gold." Life and career Gleason w ...

as Ed Shafer * Willis Bouchey as Cully * Harry Tyler as Mr. White * William Forrest as Walker * Robert Leyden as Willie * Tiger Fafara as Bobby

External links

"Rookie of the Year"
in the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

''Senses of Cinema'': Flashing Spikes
1955 American television episodes Television anthology episodes Television plays {{US-tv-prog-stub