Separated at Birth: Brothers in Arms

Not only were Joaquin Phoenix and Jason Marquis separated at birth, they remain good friends to this day. In fact, occasionally they will fill in for each other, sometimes just for fun. Upon discovering this, the Rogue League sent an e-mail to both Joaquin and Jason, asking for a story of when they impersonated each other. Here now are their responses:

Jason: When Joaquin was filming Ladder 49, he asked me to fill in for him one day, after he had inhaled some smoke in one of the fire scenes. I had actually taken an acting class in high school, so I felt I was holding my own pretty well during the scenes. I guess my instincts got the best of me, though, as over lunch, I had the whole crew listening as I carefully explained baseball's balk rule. You probably know, this is a very difficult rule to understand, and I make it a priority to explain it properly to everyone I meet. The director (Jay Russell) started looking at me kind of funny. "How does an actor know so much about such a complex baseball rule," he asked. I was frozen. Luckily he was distracted by Morris Chestnut and I made a quick escape.

Joaquin: Just this year I pitched for Jason in St. Louis. He really didn't feel like going back there a second time, what with it being his old team and all. Well obviously I am an actor, not a pitcher. As you can tell from this Yahoo! box score, I got lit up, and I was not happy about it. After the game I asked Jim Edmonds to meet me out in the middle of the field. We both arrived, still in full uniform. He said he didn't really feel like talking to me, and turned to walk away. "How dare you turn your back to me," I said. "You will remove your helmet and tell me your name." But he kept walking, so I extended my left arm and slowly gave a thumbs down. Then a lion abruptly emerged from the bullpen and charged and devoured Jim whole. I told Jason about it later and he was kind of mad. Not because I had had a lion eat a person, but because other better outfielders would now get a chance to play for the Cardinals, who are of course, Jason's rival team.