The speech from “Field of Dreams.” It’s tattooed to my soul. James Earl Jones’ words perfectly and poetically confirmed what we feel about baseball, which, for many of us, was our first love.
The iconic actor Jones died Monday at 93. He reached a scope of pop culture that few celebs could — from “Star Wars” to “The Lion King” or “Roots: The Next Generations” to “Coming to America,” even “The Sandlot” to “Field of Dreams.” And it was in that 1989 film that Jones spoke of baseball as “the one constant through all the years,” a game that makes fans feel as if “they'd dipped themselves in magic waters.
The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces.” The speech, penned by screenwriter Phil Alden Robinson, is part of movie history and, really, baseball history. It’s recognizable, sure, due to its most famous line: “People will come, Ray.
” But it’s also influential. The words touched thousands and thousands of Americans — raising and increasing inner baseball fandom just so. It made baseball more beloved.
And the phrases and descriptions make us yearn for baseball — both to transport us back to our cherished childhood memories but also to create new memories (perhaps with our own children). Sure, I admit, you could argue that the speech is cheesy. And some people feel “Field of Dreams” is hokey.
But to those who love the movie and revere the speech, well, as Terrence Mann said, it “reminds u.