“The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball.”
James Earl Jones spoke those words in one of the most memorable scenes from 1989’s “Field of Dreams.”
Jones, whose booming voice was instantly recognizable throughout his decorated seven-decade career on stage and screen, passed away Monday at age 93.
Jones’ connection to baseball spanned beyond his role as Terence Mann in the Oscar-nominated drama. He also co-starred in “The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings” in 1976 and 1993’s “The Sandlot.” The summer “The Sandlot” was released, Jones provided a stirring recitation of “The Star-Spangled Banner” prior to the All-Star Game at Camden Yards in Baltimore.
Jones reprised his role as Mr. Mertle in 2005’s “The Sandlot 2.”
But his baseball roles were not limited to movies. In 1985, he originated the role of Troy Maxson in August Wilson’s play “Fences” at the Yale Repertory Theatre. A 53-year-old sanitation worker in 1950s Pittsburgh, Troy is a former Negro Leagues star slugger who laments that he was too old to play in the desegregated Major Leagues following Jackie Robinson’s debut.
“Hell, I know some teams Jackie Robinson couldn’t even make!” Troy says to his wife, Rose, and friend and co-worker Bono. “What you talking about Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson wasn’t nobody. I’m talking about if you could play ball then they ought to have let you play. Don’t care what color you were. Come telling me I come along too early. If you could play … then they ought to have let you play.”
When the play moved to Broadway in 1987, Jones won a Tony Award for his portrayal of Troy.
But most around the baseball world will remember him as Terence Mann, who convinces Ray Kinsella (played by Kevin Costner) to not sell his farm that includes the baseball diamond he built because: “People will come, Ray.”
“This field, this game — it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.”