Hi, Bryan Here…

Jon Ham (Mad Men) has joined the cast of ‘Million Dollar Arm’ where he’ll play a sports agent based on real life agent J.B. Bernstein.  Bernstein discovered professional pitchers Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel through a reality show he staged in India with cricket players.

I think Hamm is perfect for this role.  Thomas McCarthy penned the script with Joe Roth, Mark Ciardi, and Gordon Gray producing.  There is no director yet, but the film plans to start shooting in the fall.

“Bernstein repped top talent, but was burnt out and disillusioned until he watched the cricket game on late night TV and noticed how similar the game’s throwing motion was to that of baseball pitchers. He headed to India and wound up hatching the reality show Million Dollar Arm and auditioning 40,000 hopefuls. He brought back the two 19-year old finalists to the U.S., but it wasn’t as simple as signing with a ball club and heading to the minor leagues. Neither player had ever ventured beyond their rural village and Bernstein had to teach them as much about American culture and speaking English as he did the rules of baseball. All the work paid off when the imports became the first Indian players to sign pro baseball teams when they got contracts with the Pittsburgh Pirates.”

Your thoughts?  Will this be another ‘Jerry Maguire’ film?