Bernie Mac is sick. The 46-year-old comedian, dressed in a custom-made Atlanta Braves jersey with his name and the number 21 on the back, has just returned from overseas. He tried to keep up with the dudes from the Phat Pack–Clooney, Pitt, Damon and Cheadle, his co-stars from “Ocean’s 12,” and he caught pneumonia.
But nothing will stop this Chicago native from promoting “Mr. 3000,” a movie about an arrogant ex-baseball player trying to get into the Hall of Fame. Here, Mac recounts his own glory days for RedEye.
So with your background in football, basketball, boxing and baseball, it sounds as though you were a natural to play Stan Ross.
Baby, I can play. I was a quarterback, I boxed for four years and I was very, very good. I didn’t like hitting people for no reason. I didn’t have that killer instinct. I begged my mother to let me quit, and she did. That wasn’t my thing. I played baseball–played every position except pitcher. I played baseball all the way up to my 40s and ended up on first base, like all old guys. In Chicago we got a thing called the Windy City Classic. We play with a 16-inch softball and you catch it with your bare hands. You don’t play with a glove. It’s the meanest, most grueling, most competitive game. If you see it, it will blow you away.
You have to understand, this film has been floating out there a long time from John Travolta to Denzel [Washington] to Tom Hanks and Richard Gere. It fell into my lap. When I saw it I was like, “Whoa!” It gave me a chance to be a little kid again–being a baseball sports-guy athlete myself. And I saw where I could really show Hollywood another part of me.
Is Stan a composite character?
He’s an ass. He was my brother. I used the swing and the play of Roberto Clemente, because he was my favorite player, and I used the swagger of Rod Carew. My brother was the most arrogant, self-centered, S.O.B. you’d ever want to see in your life. He hasn’t seen the movie yet, so pray for me because there’s going to be some stuff.
How did you train for this role?
You know what, I fooled the hell out of them. I’ve always been an athlete. When I got this film, I went to Swingtown in Chicago. It was about a month before we started. I worked out with some of the Cubs in the batting cage. I didn’t tell them what I was doing. My grandmother said, “Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” So they tried to teach me some things. I’ve always done a high kick–being in the box and the ball comes and you have that high kick. Now the new baseball players, they’ve got that pose at the end. That’s the new swing. I’d take it in training, but when we shot, I did my thing.
Did you take your own cuts?
I did everything, baby, except that running thing. I had a young kid out of Milwaukee do my running, and he made me look real good. I slid on my stomach one time and I said, “You crazy as hell.” Crazy! I’m not going to keep doing this!
Cubs or White Sox?
White Sox, baby. Because I grew up on the South Side.
How would you assess the Chicago sports scene today?
Tradition. Cubs could be 1-99 and still sell out. Sports teams in Chicago have always been bad, but Chicago is a sports town. Jerry Krause ruined the Bulls. Phil Jackson should have never left. [Krause] did Michael Jordan wrong. Scottie Pippen is a complimentary player. No way in hell is he one of the 50 greatest players. That was some politics. The difference between New York and Chicago is that New York fans will try and kill their teams if they don’t do well. They’ll turn their backs on them. But in Chicago, we’ll still support our teams in good times and bad.
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