Major League Baseball held its annual Field of Dreams game on Thursday, including a special tribute to the late Ray Liotta from his Field of Dreams co-star Kevin Costner. During the game, Fox broadcast the tribute that featured Costner speaking about Liotta’s — who played Shoeless Joe Jackson in the film — impact and his legacy, calling the actor “special” and that he “helped show us when dreams come from the heart, they really can come true.”
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“Field of Dreams is about belief and those rare moments when magic becomes real,” Costner said in the tribute which you can check out below. “And it doesn’t work unless Shoeless Joe is worth the wait, unless he’s special. And Ray Liotta was special.”
He continued, “When Ray died back in May, I reminisced about how our batting practice moment together was not a stunt. It was real, and it happened as you saw it. I said that God gave us that stunt that night, and now God has Ray. And though he may be gone, that’s the beauty of a game like baseball and a movie like Field of Dreams: He gets to live forever in our hearts whenever he steps out of that cornfield. He’s become eternal. Long live Shoeless Joe, and long live Ray, who helped show us that when dreams come from the heart, they really can come true.”
Liotta sadly died in his sleep back in may while in the Dominican Republic where he was shooting the film Dangerous Waters. He was 67 years old. After Liotta’s death, Costner took to Twitter to remember the actor, writing that he was “devastated to hear the news of Ray Liotta’s passing. While he leaves an incredible legacy, he’ll always be ‘Shoeless Joe Jackson’ in my heart. What happened in that moment in the film was real. God gave us that stunt. Now God has Ray.”
In addition to his role in Field of Dreams, Liotta was known for roles in Goodfellas, Something Wild, Hannibal, and many more. Most recently, he appeared in Apple TV+’s Black Bear with Taron Egerton who told ComicBook.com back in July that the series is an incredible testament to the actor’s talent.
“It was an incredible experience for me as an actor. You know, I’ve been lucky enough to work with some really great and heavyweight actors in my few years working in the industry and Ray was a particularly special one for me,” Egerton said. “I was very, very invested in that relationship feeling very real and with a tangible sense of history, because it is the heart of the show. There’s a lot of darkness in the show and there’s a lot of difficult characteristics that the protagonists possess. But I think the tenderness of the relationship between Big Jim and my character Jimmy is kind of the engine for why Jimmy takes this massive risk.”
He continued, “And I was so extraordinarily blessed that an actor of Ray’s gravitas, caliber, magnitude, you know, decided to take on the role and we had a really, really special connection. And we had stayed in touch, actually, because it was a special experience, I believe for him as well. And of course, it is very… it’s a great shame that he won’t be here to celebrate the release of the show. But it’s an incredible testament to his talent. And, of course, you know, given what happens to his character takes on an extra poignancy, I think, in the wake of his passing. So, it’s some sad, but my overwhelming feeling is of pride.”
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