Midnight Library of Baseball

In this episode, I crack open long-forgotten archives and discuss the many well-known actors considered for Field of Dreams, and the equally fascinating stories of the actors who eventually got the parts.

For years, Phil Alden Robinson had been struggling to get his favorite book, Shoeless Joe, turned into a film. When he finally got his wish, it was more than he bargained for. Pressure and anxiety nearly brought Robinson and Field of Dreams to a screeching halt. In this episode, I discuss what saved Robinson and his film. I also reveal a real-life Doc Graham hidden among the crew, and I dig into the most “Field of Dreams” story there ever was, linked to two people integral to the movie.

W.P. Kinsella never saw the father-son relationship as the central emotional story in his book, Shoeless Joe. This is just one of many revelations in Episode 6, where I follow the path of writer/director Phil Alden Robinson, who roamed the streets of Hollywood for years with the vision of what Shoeless Joe would become on the big screen. But it was this very struggle and years of failure that led to what many called a magical script.

When J.D. Salinger learned that he was a character in W.P. Kinsella’s novel, Shoeless Joe, he threatened a lawsuit, which led to Salinger being rewritten as Terence Mann for the film. But this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to coincidences and controversies between J.D. Salinger, W.P. Kinsella, and their iconic novels. In this episode, I explore the question, would Field of Dreams exist without J.D. Salinger and The Catcher in the Rye?

1 out of every 5 men claiming to have played professional baseball was lying, according to the Baseball Hall of Fame in the 1990s. But there was no name for this phenomenon, until author W.P. Kinsella created a fictional character named Eddie Scissons. Stranger still, two men in real life decided to study cases of Eddie Scissons syndrome, and what they found blew their minds.

There are many great moments from Field of Dreams taken directly from the novel, Shoeless Joe, but there are also key differences in both. Some of the additions and changes in Field of Dreams led to a better story, but some of the deleted characters and stories from the novel are wonderful gems worth discussing, including a very meaningful part cut from Terence Mann’s final speech.

Unlike many predestined stories of artists, author W.P. Kinsella was born and raised to NOT write the novel, Shoeless Joe.  In this episode, I explore the many fascinating contradictions that made Kinsella such an interesting character, and that led to stories no one else in the world could write. 

In this first episode, I explore the crazy story of editor Lawrence Kessenich, who was instrumental in helping W.P. Kinsella turn a 16-page short story into a full novel. Along the way, there were many improbable occurrences and treacherous hazards that nearly derailed the project. But born from this struggle was a bond that would last generations.

The making of Field of Dreams, across countries and continents, is a story of vision, of redemption, and of slowing down and appreciating the people and things in your life that matter. This season, I will talk to actors, directors, and other fascinating men and women in the film industry. I will also talk with you, the fans, about your stories of baseball and Field of Dreams. I will trace the film back decades to improbable imaginings and encounters, to daunting casting and production disasters, to unlikely and uplifting box office performances, and finally, to what Field of Dreams and a little field in Iowa mean to people today. I can't wait to start the journey on September 5!

For the final episode of season 1, I dive into the major league catcher and the tools that make him what he is today. Because of his equipment, the catcher is literally masked, but there are so many other areas where he is overlooked and underestimated. In this episode, I explore these areas, and why they have come to be.