Continuity mistake: When the Owls are playing for their district championship, the other team's best batter comes up in the last inning. As he is walking to the plate, he is wearing Nike shoes, but when he digs into the batter's box, his shoes are Reebok.
Factual error: In the final inning of the district championship game, the Owls are ahead by one run and there are two outs when the opposing team's top hitter steps up to the plate. This is impossible because this batter was the final out in the previous inning when his team came to bat. That he bats at all in the final inning with two outs means his team would have batted around the order and scored at least 3 runs in that inning already and had the lead.
Factual error: The cab that delivers Morris and Brooks to the Ballpark in Arlington is driving on the wrong side of the road - southbound in the northbound lanes of Nolan Ryan Expressway. The road runs along the first base line of the stadium (now Ameriquest Field). (01:46:40)
Other mistake: All the baseballs used in the movie (or at least the ones you can see up close), were official Major League Baseballs. At the time the movie is supposed to take place, 1999, Rawlings made separate baseballs for the American and National Leagues. The official Rawlings Major League Baseball wasn't used until 2000.
Continuity mistake: When Jim Morris is at the tryouts pitching, and he is on the pitcher's mound, you can clearly see that he has sweat on the neck of his shirt and on the armpits of the shirt. However when he goes to throw out the diaper, the sweat is gone.
Continuity mistake: In the same when Jim pitches at the training camp, before he starts, the sky is bright and clear. When he starts pitching the sky starts to get darker and cloudier but when he finishes pitching the sky is bright once again. How can the sky change that fast?
Factual error: The Rangers 1999 ballclub the Devil Rays are playing looks eerily similar to the 2001 Rangers ballclub. If you look closely, you will see Alex Rodriguez scoring on a base hit. He wasn't signed until the 2001 season.
Continuity mistake: During the sixth inning of the game between the Devil Rays and the Rangers, a Texas player who has just gotten a hit runs in the wrong direction, toward third base.
Factual error: When Jim Morris' high school players enter Arlington Stadium, you can hear Tom Goodwin being announced as leading off for the Rangers in the bottom of the first inning. That is not correct. 2B Mark McLemore was the Ranger's lead off hitter in that game. Tom Goodwin batted 9th.
Continuity mistake: At the tryouts Jim was changing his baby's diaper and when he pulls her off the hood of the trunk to pitch, he drops a blanket on the ground. In the next shot the blanket is gone, but he didn't pick it up, neither did Hunter, because he is still sitting on the truck and has not appeared to move. What happened to the blanket?
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Dennis Quaid tries out for the majors, he finishes his pitching and his grey shirt is noticeably covered with sweat stains. Moments later after leaving the field, as he approaches one of the scouts, all the sweat stains are gone and his shirt is completely clean.
Continuity mistake: The stands are pretty near full when they're showing the kids walk in to the stadium, but when they're showing Dennis Quaid out on the mound and the camera is spinning around, you can see many empty seats in the bleachers behind him.
Factual error: When the Devil Rays are playing the Rangers, the Rangers are wearing blue uniforms, which was the color of their uniforms when this movie was shot in 2001. However, this movie takes place in 1999, when the Rangers were wearing white uniforms with red writing and trim. You can see this for yourself in the DVD extras by watching the scene of the real Jim Morris pitching.
Continuity mistake: When Dennis Quaid is putting the first article up on the bulletin board, he places it more toward the center of the board in the medium shot, but then when they show a close up of the article, it is up on the top near the frame of the board. (00:46:45)
Factual error: In Jim Morris' debut at the Ballpark in Arlington, his is with the visiting Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He is warming up though in the bullpen that runs above and beyond the right field wall. This is the Texas Ranger's bullpen. When he comes in, he approaches from the first base side of the diamond, indicating that he came in from right field, but as he leaves the field he goes into the third base dugout (the correct one at this ballpark).
Continuity mistake: Just as Jim is called in to pitch, he is slowly trotting through the field. In the background, there is a large Southwest airlines billboard. If you pay close attention, Jim trots for upwards of a few seconds (probably upwards of 50 feet), but the Southwest sign in the background barely moves from right to left, as if Jim is not running at all. Totally impossible.
Factual error: It actually took Morris four pitches to strike out Royce Clayton. His third pitch was fouled off.
Factual error: The Devil Rays uniforms with a forest green style font weren't adopted until 2001. In 1999, the font was some kind of multicolor gradient.
Other mistake: When Jimmy is putting the first newspaper article up on the bulletin board, the article is titled "Owls Win Fifth Straight", but the actual article text talks about the Owls having just played and lost the last game of the season that "not only knocked the Owls from post-season action, but ended a 17 game winning streak." (00:46:45)
Continuity mistake: After the owls won the championship while Jimmy is pitching on his tryout the sun is changing in the whole scene.
Answer: It's never fully revealed, it seems David and his brother were playing, probably doing something that requires parental supervisor and was unable to save him. Again, probably David was the older one and his father believed he should have known better.