Effectively Wild Episode 1518: The Field of Dreams Debate

by
March 24, 2020

EWFI
Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller revisit Sam’s tradition of viewing the beloved and despised 1989 film Field of Dreams on the eve of Opening Day (or in this case, what would have been Opening Day) and examine how their perceptions of the movie have evolved, what makes Field of Dreams the most divisive baseball movie, the many aspects of the movie that make little sense, and its redeeming qualities.

Audio intro: James Horner, "The Place Where Dreams Come True"
Audio outro: James Horner, "End Credits"

Link to Ebert’s Field of Dreams review
Link to Goldman on Field of Dreams
Link to Calcaterra on Field of Dreams
Link to Posnanski on Field of Dreams
Link to Offerman on Field of Dreams
Link to research on the legend of Shoeless Joe
Link to research on Jackson’s attempted reinstatement
Link to research on Black Sox batting
Link to research on Weaver’s case
Link to Emma Span article
Link to order The MVP Machine

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GhostofTedCox
5 years ago

Field of Dreams is a baseball fantasy. A fantasy requires suspension of disbelief. If you cannot do that, you won’t enjoy the movie. It is homage to baseball, and a homage to the father-son relationship. Who knows why Mel Ott is in the movie. Who cares? Put down your Bill James book and make some popcorn!

But the good news. I just read The MVP Machine and it is flat out outstanding. Great job without making it a boring sabermetrics book. It’s a new age player development book with Hunan stories.

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