Revisiting five classic scenes from Field of Dreams

Field of Dreams is one of the all-time great baseball movies. Here we look back at five classic scenes and what they mean three decades later.

Field of Dreams is one of my all-time favorite movies and a classic baseball film. For those who haven’t seen it, the 1989 film stars Kevin Costner as Ray Kinsella, an Iowa farmer and baseball fanatic who hears a voice in his cornfield urging him to build a baseball field.

When he builds it, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and many other baseball players from years ago come back to life and play on his field. Ray later hears another voice that prompts him to seek out reclusive author Terence Mann, who helps him to make the dreams of another former player come true. All the while, Ray has to battle losing his farm, as plowing under his corn is causing the farm to bleed money.

There are so many great scenes in this film, yet here I’ve chosen five to highlight. I hope that reading this will inspire you to want to watch the film, either for the first time or once again.

Ray meets Shoeless Joe for the first time

For months, Ray waited for players to appear on the field, but nothing happened. Then, one night, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson appeared. Played by Ray Liotta, “Shoeless” Joe gave one of what were several great monologues throughout the film, about how he missed baseball after being thrown out of the game for being part of the Black Sox Scandal of 1919. It was one of a few times during the movie where we were reminded of the pure beauty and simplicity of the game of baseball.

Ray hit some fly balls to “Shoeless” Joe, then he threw him some batting practice. Later, the eight White Sox players who were thrown out of the game appeared on the field. At the first sight of it, they cheered wildly like children, thrilled at their ability to play baseball again. Later, players from other teams appeared, and they got to start having games.