Million Dollar Arm Character Analysis

The main conflict in Million Dollar Arm by J.B. Bernstein is that it is hard to adapt Indian cricket players, like Rinku and Dinesh, into American baseball players, especially while simultaneously having to deal with the culture shock of moving to America. Cricket uses a different arm motion than baseball. As newcomers to the sport, they have to adapt, and get the many years of training their competitors have in a short amount of time. First, cricket players use a different arm motion compared to baseball, and they get a running start. Rinku and Dinesh have trouble becoming adjusted to this foreign throwing style, but eventually master it. The pieces of arm mechanics they retain from cricket help them get an advantage above their opposition. To an American who is used to a baseball-style of pitching, this style looks crazy. “I had seen lots of crazy pitching since arriving in India, but this was easily the most bizarre technique I had encountered” (Bernstein 69-70). Even in the cultural …show more content…
When you are the first to do something, the pressure increases. “There are a lot of advantages to being first. There’s more media attention and endorsements. And if you’re doing well, you feel like you have an entire country behind you. But, there is also a burden, he said. ‘Your smallest victories look like mountains, but your defeats look like deep valleys. Everything is exaggerated.’ It’s hard enough for any player when he fails on the field. But as the first Korean or Indian player, there would always be an added layer of pressure (or fifty). When you don’t succeed, you can easily feel like you’re not only letting yourself down but also an entire nation” (Bernstein 149). The pressure to not let your country down is immense. If they fail to secure a contract, they could ruin their reputation, or possibly even