Ray Kinsella: "I want to know what's out there! I want to see it! Shoeless Joe: "But you're not invited." Ray Kinsella: "Not invited? What do you mean I'm not invited!"

Wearing black socks (how ironic) and sandals, author W.P. Kinsella bats at the Field of Dreams (and hits like a girl, by the way).

We decided the film would be our model for bringing people together.

In the story, Ray Kinsella must convince a noted writer named Terance Mann (J.D. Salinger in the original book) to come with him to the dream field. We decided to do the same. And who better to bring than W. P. Kinsella, the author of Shoeless Joe, the book from which the film is based?

Apparently W.P. doesn't believe his own storylines. While Terance Mann hears the call and follows Ray, W.P. wouldn't even return phone calls.

Kinsella lives a semi-retired life in Chilliwack, British Columbia, east of Vancouver. He was involved in a car accident three years ago, and the incident effectively ended his fiction-writing career. Kinsella lost his sense of taste and smell after the accident and now suffers from lateral-movement vertigo. Obviously, Kinsella had no interest in a long car ride with three strangers.

We finally backed off of Kinsella, as the line between fictional pied piper (Ray Kinsella) and real-life stalker (us) is a blurry one.

Strike one.

© 1997 by Universal City Studios, Inc.

Also in the book, Ray is sent to find an old doctor named Archie "Moonlight" Graham, who was once a ballplayer (played by Burt Lancaster, and based on a real person). Graham was robbed of his one pro at-bat, and never played in the big leagues again. He then became a doctor, but he always wondered what would have happened if he had that one at-bat. Ray then picks up a hitchhiker who turns out to be the young "Moonlight" Graham (played by Frank Whaley), and takes him to the dream field. There he finally gets his turn at the plate and slaps a sacrifice fly to right field. (Okay, he SACRIFICES, we get it, already!)

Unfortunately, we didn't know any doctors who used to be ballplayers and were robbed of their one pro at-bat.

Strike two.

THE FINAL PITCH

The Voice: "Go the distance."

© 1997 by Universal City Studios, Inc.

We were running out of ideas. So far nobody that worked on the movie appeared to believe in the story. No great writers were going to join our mission. And there weren't any medical students left who would turn down a lucarative minor league contract. Unlike Ray Kinsella in the fictional story, we would not be aided it our quest to bring people together through baseball. It was going to be up to us alone.

In the film, years of rancor and neglect between a father and a son were wiped away with the words, "Would you like to have a catch?" All wounds were healed, and the psychological barriers between them were torn down. Could a game between the two farms erase the boundary between right field and "left & center?"

In the spirit of the story, SportsHollywood hoped to arrange a game of softball between the two stores, because -- as we all learned from the film -- "baseball brings us together." Maybe through a friendly game, both sides can learn to -- if not unify -- at least coexist.

This would be the ultimate test of baseball's power: Could a game of baseball traverse the mighty chasm that has opened between right field and "left & center" on the Field of Dreams?

It was time for the final pitch.

Ray Kinsella: "Wanna have a catch?"

October 21, 2000: This would be the moment of truth. We had to be prepared.

After months of plotting, preparing, and ceaseless work, we were about to see the result, and witness our due reward...

... AND HERE'S THE PITCH!

	MAIN PAGE: Filming begins on a farm in Iowa, but soon the set crosses onto the neighbor's yard, and the "Field of Dreams" is owned by two different farmers.
	BUY THE MOVIE: Buy the DVD or video. (The DVD contains a documentary about the field.)