99 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.

Which comedy star of the late 1980s was first offered Ray Kinsella in Field of Dreams but turned the part down?

Tom Hanks said no, and the filmmakers had not even listed their eventual lead, assuming he would not want two baseball pictures in a row.

On a tight shooting schedule, what did professional sod layers do to the turf of the Field of Dreams diamond?

Painted it green: there was no time for a natural lawn, so stadium turf specialists built the diamond and colouring it was part of the job.

In Field of Dreams, Terence Mann once dreamed of playing for which team that later moved to California?

Brooklyn Dodgers was the boyhood ambition Mann gave in an old interview, and it convinces Ray that the Voice is talking about him. Mann denies the dream at first and admits it only at the end.

Field of Dreams lost the Best Picture Oscar to which fellow 1989 film, whose own director went unnominated?

Driving Miss Daisy took four Oscars that night, more than any other film. Field of Dreams left with nothing from its own nominations.

When MLB ended lifetime bans at death in 2025, Shoeless Joe Jackson was reinstated with which recently deceased star?

Pete Rose, banned in 1989 over betting on games, had died the previous September. The ruling opened the way for both men to be considered for the Hall of Fame.

Sent to work in a textile mill as a small boy, the real Shoeless Joe Jackson never learned what?

To read or write was beyond him, so his wife often signed his name for him. A provably genuine Jackson autograph now sells at a premium.

In Field of Dreams, why does Mark first mock Ray's family for watching a ballgame?

He cannot see the players until the very end, when one of them steps off the diamond to help Ray's daughter. Only then does he tell Ray to keep the farm.

Field of Dreams' Oscar-nominated score lost the award to the music of which Disney animated film?

The Little Mermaid won for Alan Menken, beating a deliberately quiet, atmospheric score. Universal's executives had been expecting a big orchestral sound.

Farmer Don Lansing never charged admission to the Field of Dreams diamond, so how did he earn from visitors?

Selling souvenirs from his own small shop was the only income he took from the field, with entry and parking both free. About 65,000 people a year were visiting by the twentieth anniversary.

At a 2006 outdoor screening on the Field of Dreams diamond, how did the movie's star entertain the crowd?

Played with his band, later named Modern West, before the film was shown on a giant outdoor screen set up beside the diamond.

Which Marvel leading man had reportedly agreed to star in a Field of Dreams TV remake before it stalled in 2022?

Chris Pratt was reportedly attached to a series budgeted at $15 million an episode, the cost of the entire original picture. Peacock let it go and the project was shopped elsewhere.

What verdict did a Chicago jury return on the accused Black Sox players the day before baseball banned them?

Not guilty on every charge, after less than three hours of deliberation. The new commissioner barred them all anyway, holding that a courtroom win did not excuse breaking baseball's rules.

Which John Sayles film about the Black Sox reached cinemas the year before Field of Dreams?

Eight Men Out gave the Shoeless Joe role to D. B. Sweeney in 1988, with its director appearing on screen as the sportswriter Ring Lardner.

The American Film Institute's 2008 genre lists ranked Field of Dreams sixth in which category, rather than sports?

Fantasy was the list it made, as the sixth-best American film of that kind. The sports top ten, headed by a boxing drama, left it out altogether.

In Field of Dreams, what changes Annie's mind about Ray's costly trip to find Terence Mann?

They had the same dream, of Ray and the writer side by side at a ballgame. Annie goes from forbidding the journey to helping him pack.

Which television actor of the 1980s plays Mark, who presses Ray to sell the farm in Field of Dreams?

Timothy Busfield was midway through his run as Elliot on thirtysomething, the part that later won him an Emmy. He was back on the diamond for the 25th-anniversary celebrations.

W. P. Kinsella said he was told which Apollo 13 actor supplied the uncredited Voice in Field of Dreams?

Ed Harris was the name the novelist heard, though the filmmakers have never confirmed who whispers to Ray. Other guesses point to the two leading men.

Which Golden Age leading man turned down the role of the elderly Doc Graham in Field of Dreams?

James Stewart was offered the small-town doctor and passed. The eventual choice said no at first too, until a baseball-loving friend insisted he had to make it.

Which slugger homered twice in the 2021 Field of Dreams game, once in the ninth, yet finished on the losing side?

Aaron Judge went deep for a second time with two out in the ninth as his side grabbed the lead. A walk-off homer minutes later undid it all in a 9–8 thriller.

Which team beat the Minnesota Twins 7–1 when MLB returned to the Field of Dreams site in 2026?

Phillies bats settled it early, with a leadoff home run and a second from the same hitter in the fourth inning. It was the third major-league game staged beside the movie diamond.

The temporary MLB ballpark built beside the Field of Dreams was modelled on which long-demolished big-league stadium?

Comiskey Park, Chicago's ballpark from 1910 to 1990, inspired the outfield's shape and the bullpens beyond centre field. The new park sat about 500 feet from the movie diamond, which could not be upgraded without spoiling the set.

Which studio held the film rights to Field of Dreams, then dropped the project as too esoteric to sell?

20th Century Fox put the project into turnaround, judging it noncommercial. Universal said yes in 1987, after the producer who kept championing the book had left Fox and pitched it around town.

Which Illinois river town doubled for Doc Graham's Minnesota home in Field of Dreams?

Galena supplied the streets where Ray strolls back into 1972 and meets the old doctor. The closing credits thank its people by name.

Which child actor made her film debut as Ray's young daughter in Field of Dreams and won a Young Artist Award?

Gaby Hoffmann followed it months later with Uncle Buck, then gave up acting for a while. She returned after hearing what her co-star Macaulay Culkin was earning.

Which actor plays the young hitchhiker Archie Graham in Field of Dreams, years before dying early in Pulp Fiction?

Frank Whaley shares the role with a screen veteran who plays the same man as an old doctor. That year he also began a long run of Oliver Stone films with Born on the Fourth of July.

Shoeless Joe Jackson hit .408 as a 1911 rookie yet lost the batting title to which fierce rival?

Ty Cobb hit .419 that season, one of the few times an average above .400 failed to win a batting crown. Jackson's .408 still stands as the rookie record.

After baseball, the real Shoeless Joe Jackson ran what kind of shop in Greenville until his death?

A liquor store bearing his name kept Jackson and his wife after they tried a barbecue restaurant. In one well-known tale an old batting rival came in, and Jackson waited to be recognised first.

For years the real Doc Graham collected and gave away what to the children of Minnesota's iron miners?

Eyeglasses arrived used at his office, and on Saturdays he tested miners' children and fitted them free of charge. He was his town's school doctor for fifty years.

Sent on late in his lone big-league game in 1905, the real Archie Graham played which position?

Right field was his post for the final inning, and he never had to make a play. He was due up next when the last out of the ninth was made, so his turn to hit never came.

W. P. Kinsella discovered Archie Graham's one-game career in 1975 while leafing through which book?

The Baseball Encyclopedia listed a man with one game and no at-bats, and the novelist made a note of him. He later gathered the doctor's life story from people in his Minnesota town.

Which gambler, the model for The Great Gatsby's Meyer Wolfsheim, is often linked to the Black Sox plot?

Arnold Rothstein was named in testimony at the players' trial, yet the evidence cuts both ways and nobody has shown that he ran the scheme.

Which Black Sox third baseman, seen among the ghosts in Field of Dreams, was banned without taking any money?

Buck Weaver sat in on the early meetings and kept quiet, which was enough to get him barred. He pleaded his innocence to one commissioner after another without success.

By one story the Black Sox nickname predates the scandal, born when the club's owner refused to pay for what?

Laundering the uniforms was left to the players, the tale goes, so they kept wearing their white woollens as the grime built up. The owner then had them washed and docked the bill from their pay.

Shoeless Joe Jackson grew up in a mill town on the edge of Greenville in which Southern state?

South Carolina is where he was born, in Pickens County, and where he died in 1951. He was the first of the banned players to die, and he is buried in Greenville.

Shoeless Joe Jackson's museum stands at 356 Field Street, an address chosen to honor what?

His career batting average of .356 is one of the highest in major-league history. The museum is his own house, moved to a site beside a ballpark and opened in 2008.

Lawrence Gordon, who fought for years to get Field of Dreams made, also produced which action classic of the same era?

Die Hard came out the year before, between his two Predator films. Action was his speciality, which makes the gentle baseball story the odd one out among his credits.

The writer-director of Field of Dreams followed it with which star-studded caper about hackers and codebreakers?

Sneakers arrived three years later, with Robert Redford leading a crew of security testers. It earned an Edgar Award nomination from the Mystery Writers of America.

Field of Dreams earned a Best Dramatic Presentation nomination for which major science fiction honor?

Hugo Award voters shortlisted the film among the year's science fiction, and the nomination named the novelist alongside the director.

In which Iowa city, where a warehouse held the interior sets, did Field of Dreams have its world premiere?

Dubuque hosted the premiere on 20 April 1989, a day before the film opened in just seventeen cities. The production had spent $5.2 million there.

For the final shot of Field of Dreams, how did the director reach the drivers of some 1,500 cars at once?

Over local radio: two stations carried his voice straight into the cars, and the nearby town was blacked out for the aerial shot.

Why was the Field of Dreams diamond laid out across two neighbouring farms rather than on one?

For clear sunset shots, the producers wanted an unbroken line of sight, which put left and centre field on the next farm. The two families were later at odds over how commercial the site should be.

A title card after the end credits of Field of Dreams dedicates the film to whom?

Their parents get the final word, on a card that follows special thanks to the two farmers whose land became the ballfield.

In the novel behind Field of Dreams, what relation to Ray is Richard Kinsella, a character cut from the film?

An identical twin, Richard turns up in the book with a girlfriend known as Gypsy. Neither of them appears anywhere in the film's cast.

Which 1960s folk-rock group's hit Daydream is among the pop songs heard in Field of Dreams?

The Lovin' Spoonful share the closing credits with Duke Ellington's Lotus Blossom and a Beverly D'Angelo recording of Crazy. The songs sit alongside the orchestral score instead of replacing it.

In Field of Dreams, what stops Shoeless Joe from walking over to the farmhouse with the family?

He cannot leave the grass: the edge of the playing surface is a line the old ballplayers are unable to walk past. They come and go through the corn beyond the outfield instead.

In Field of Dreams, what does Terence Mann plan to do after following the players into the corn?

Make a story of it is his plan: the reclusive novelist calls the invitation a chance for new work. He reminds Ray, who was not asked along, that he has a family to stay for.

The director of Field of Dreams pictured a very big actor as Terence Mann because Ray tries to do what to him?

Kidnap him is what Ray attempts, and the director thought it would be fun to watch him try it on such a large man. He wrote the part with one imposing actor in mind.

Besides bay windows and air conditioning, what did the filmmakers add to Don Lansing's farmhouse for Field of Dreams?

A picket fence went up along with a longer porch. The owner was also paid a $10,000 location fee plus living expenses for the loan of his home.

The star's one change to the Field of Dreams script had Ray doing what while hitting to Shoeless Joe?

Topping one into the dirt replaced a scripted whiff, because failing to connect on purpose is tricky. He argued that a ball dribbling a few feet would be more humiliating anyway.

Which legendary college coach did Universal hire as baseball adviser on Field of Dreams?

Rod Dedeaux of USC brought along Don Buford, a former Trojan with a championship ring from the majors, to coach the actors.