49 Fun Facts About Field of Dreams

Who plays Ray Kinsella, the Iowa farmer who builds the ballpark in Field of Dreams?

Kevin Costner. He was already signed to the thriller Revenge, so the whole shoot was scheduled around him and had to finish before he left to make it.

Which word completes the voice's whisper in Field of Dreams: 'If you build it, … will come'?

He. The line is 'If you build it, he will come', number 39 on the AFI's list of great movie quotes, yet so many fans remember 'they' that the director calls it a Mandela effect.

Outside which Iowa town does the real Field of Dreams farm stand?

Dyersville. The diamond was left behind when the 1988 shoot ended, and fans began turning up at the Lansing family's farm within weeks of the film's release.

After Field of Dreams came out, which team of locals in old-time uniforms began entertaining visitors at the Iowa field?

The Ghost Players. Locals, some of them extras from the film, ordered old White Sox jerseys and walked out of the corn to greet fans, and the act grew into a Sunday comedy show.

In Field of Dreams, who plays the first ghost to step out of the corn?

Ray Liotta. He bats right-handed in the film, though the real Shoeless Joe Jackson hit left-handed.

What scandal were the ghostly White Sox players banned from baseball for?

Fixing the 1919 World Series. Eight players were accused of taking gamblers' money to lose it; a jury acquitted them in 1921, yet all eight were banned from the game for life.

Who plays Ray's wife, Annie, in Field of Dreams?

Amy Madigan. Her real husband, the actor Ed Harris, is among the names fans have guessed for the film's mysterious Voice, though the director says nobody has yet guessed right.

What is the name of Ray and Annie's daughter in Field of Dreams?

Karin. Gaby Hoffmann made her film debut in the part, and it is Karin, before any of the adults, who says people will pay to come and watch the ghosts play.

At a PTA meeting in Field of Dreams, what does Annie Kinsella talk the town out of doing?

Banning an author's books. Annie calls the ringleader a Nazi cow and wins a show of hands for free speech, and the row is what tells Ray whose pain the voice wants him to ease.

Who plays Terence Mann, the reclusive author Ray tracks down in Field of Dreams?

James Earl Jones. His character is the film's invention: in the novel Ray kidnaps a real, living author, and the studio feared a lawsuit if he appeared on screen.

In the novel behind Field of Dreams, which real writer does Ray seek out?

J. D. Salinger. Kinsella borrowed the name Ray Kinsella from a Salinger short story, so that one of the author's own characters could turn up at his door and take him to a ball game.

Field of Dreams lost its original title, Shoeless Joe, after test audiences assumed the story was about what?

A homeless man. The director hated the replacement, Field of Dreams, and asked the studio to test it once more hoping it would flop; its scores went up instead.

The all-American baseball novel behind Field of Dreams was written by W. P. Kinsella, who was which nationality?

Canadian. Born in Edmonton, he was teaching English in Alberta when a Boston editor urged him to turn his short story about Shoeless Joe Jackson into a novel.

At which ballpark do Ray and Terence Mann watch a game in Field of Dreams?

Fenway Park. Ray believes only he can see the scoreboard's message about a long-forgotten ballplayer, until Terence Mann admits, as they part, that he saw it too.

Which two future stars were teenage extras in Field of Dreams' ballpark crowd?

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The two were school friends, and within a decade of sitting in that crowd they shared an Oscar for writing Good Will Hunting.

What does the voice tell Ray at the ballpark in Field of Dreams?

Go the distance. It is the third of the voice's messages, and the company that later bought the real field took the phrase as its name.

In Field of Dreams, what is the baseball nickname of Archie Graham, the player who never got to bat?

Moonlight. W. P. Kinsella found Archibald 'Moonlight' Graham's line, one game and no at-bats, while leafing through a baseball encyclopedia, and saved the name for a novel.

In which Minnesota town does Ray find Doc Graham?

Chisholm. The real Graham spent decades as the mining town's school doctor and handed out free eyeglasses to children whose families couldn't afford them.

Which screen legend plays the elderly Doc Graham in Field of Dreams?

Burt Lancaster. James Stewart had turned the part down, and the director wanted a star who had been an athlete in his youth; it was Lancaster's last cinema film.

What ends young Archie Graham's time as a ballplayer in Field of Dreams?

Saving a choking child. The moment he steps off the field he becomes old Doc Graham again and can never go back, and he tells a stricken Ray that it's okay.

In Field of Dreams, at which protest-era campus did Ray Kinsella study and meet his wife, Annie?

Berkeley. Brooklyn-raised Ray says he picked the college farthest from home to drive his father up the wall, and that his real major was the Sixties.

In Field of Dreams, who is Mark, the man who keeps pressing Ray to sell the farm?

Annie's brother. Timothy Busfield's Mark can't even see the ballplayers until the film's last minutes, when he suddenly begs Ray to keep the farm.

Who turns out to be the catcher at the end of Field of Dreams?

Ray's father. Ray gave up playing ball with him as a teenager and never made peace before he died; here, facing him as a young man, he finally asks for a game of catch.

What is Ray's father's name in Field of Dreams?

John. Ray grows sure the voice means Terence Mann when he finds that the author once named the hero of a story John Kinsella.

What did teenage Ray call his father's hero in Field of Dreams?

A criminal. He meant Shoeless Joe Jackson; Ray had refused to play catch from the age of 14, said it as he left home at 17, and next came back for his father's funeral.

The eventual star of Field of Dreams was first left off the casting list because he had just made which baseball film?

Bull Durham. The director assumed nobody would make two baseball films in a row, until a Universal executive slipped the star the script and he said yes.

Who wrote and directed Field of Dreams?

Phil Alden Robinson. He spent years trying to get the novel filmed, then fought the studio over its change of title and lost.

Why were the interior scenes of Field of Dreams shot first?

The corn was taking too long to grow. In the drought of 1988 the crew dammed a creek on the farm to irrigate it, and theirs became the only tall corn around.

In the closing credits of Field of Dreams, the mysterious Voice is listed as being played by whom?

Himself. The director has kept the speaker's identity secret for decades, and says every name fans have put forward so far is wrong.

In Field of Dreams' final shot, what did the waiting drivers flick to fake movement?

High beams. From the helicopter the line of real cars, driven by locals, looked like lights strung along the road until the director had them switch between low and high beams.

The star of Field of Dreams called it his generation's version of which classic film?

It's a Wonderful Life. The director even offered the part of old Doc Graham to that film's star, James Stewart, who turned it down.

Which composer scored Field of Dreams after Leonard Bernstein proved unavailable?

James Horner. Bernstein was booked up for years, and Horner, unsure he had the time, watched a rough cut, was moved to tears and said yes.

In which baseball-loving country did Field of Dreams win the national film academy's prize for best foreign film?

Japan. Its film academy picked it ahead of Ghost as the year's best foreign film, praising the way it layered a father-and-son story over baseball.

Which US president named Field of Dreams as his favourite film?

George W. Bush. A former co-owner of baseball's Texas Rangers, he said it made him cry because it reminded him of playing catch in the back yard with his father.

Whose National Film Registry added Field of Dreams in 2017?

Library of Congress. It adds 25 films a year, and it headlined its 2017 class with a pun, calling the list 'more than a Field of Dreams'.

How did the real Joe Jackson come by the nickname Shoeless?

He played a game in his socks. New spikes had blistered his feet, and though he said it was the only day he ever did it, the name followed him for life.

What was the name of the real Joe Jackson's famous bat?

Black Betsy. The 48-ounce bat was hewn from local hickory and stained dark with tobacco juice, and Jackson carried it from the mill leagues all the way to the majors.

Which commissioner banned the eight Black Sox players for life?

Kenesaw Mountain Landis. A federal judge newly hired as baseball's first commissioner, he banned all eight the morning after a jury cleared them.

Which legendary slugger claimed to have copied Shoeless Joe Jackson's swing?

Babe Ruth. He borrowed Jackson's feet-together stance and long stride into the pitch, the swing that had carried Jackson to a .356 career batting average.

Which two teams played the first MLB game at the Field of Dreams site in August 2021?

White Sox and Yankees. The game was meant for 2020, when the pandemic first swapped the Cardinals in for the Yankees and then scrapped that year's game altogether.

Who hit the walk-off home run into the corn that won the 2021 Field of Dreams game?

Tim Anderson. The visitors had scored four runs in the top of the ninth to lead 8–7 before his two-run shot landed in the corn beyond right field.

What did the film's star say at the microphone before the 2021 game after walking out of the corn?

The 8,000-seat field was modelled on the old Comiskey Park.

Which father and son played catch before the 2022 Field of Dreams game?

Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr. 'Hey, Dad, wanna have a catch?' Junior asked as the pair walked out of the corn before nearly 8,000 fans, and children soon joined them on the grass.

Which Hall of Famer became majority owner of the Field of Dreams movie site in 2021?

Frank Thomas. He made his name with the White Sox, the team of the film's ghosts, and bought in only weeks after the first big-league game was played there.

Which streaming service showed the 2026 MLB game at the Field of Dreams site, the first there in four years?

Netflix. The series had been on hold since 2022 while the site was rebuilt, and it came back with the Phillies facing the Twins.

What did W. P. Kinsella want to call Shoeless Joe, the novel behind Field of Dreams?

The Dream Field. So Kinsella told the film's director, who had dreaded phoning to say the studio had dropped Shoeless Joe, only to hear that title had been the publisher's choice.

The real Archie Graham played his only big-league game for which team?

New York Giants. He played the last two innings of an 11–1 win in June 1905 and never came to bat, though the film moves his one game to 1922.

Which two teams met in the second MLB Field of Dreams game in August 2022?

Reds and Cubs. Before the game the Cubs' Fergie Jenkins threw a ceremonial first pitch to the Reds' Johnny Bench, and Chicago went on to win 4–2.

Which writer was attached to a planned Field of Dreams TV series announced for Peacock in 2021?

Michael Schur. The creator of The Good Place won a straight-to-series order from Peacock, but the streamer dropped the project in 2022 and the studio began shopping it elsewhere.