The Bookshelf Conversation #183: Dan Epstein on James Earl Jones

It was a shocker to see the breaking news on CNN on Monday that James Earl Jones had passed away.

The tributes that followed seemed to highlight two roles: Darth Vader from the Star Wars universe and Terrence Mann from Field of Dreams.

But Jones, who died at the age of 93, was also in a couple of other beloved baseballs flick: The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings and The Sandlot (and The Sandlot 2). He also appeared on stage in August Wilson’ Fences.

Interestingly, his turns as an athlete (or ex-athlete) all had to do with the Negro Leagues. In addition to portraying Leon Carter, a Josh Gibson-like slugging catcher in Bingo, he was Mr. Mertle, a blind veteran of the Leagues in Sandlot, and Troy Maxon (Fences), a bitter ex-player who came just a bit too late to make it to the Majors after Jackie Robinson broke the color line.

James Earl Jones Spent 1 Day on the Set of The Sandlot

The Celluloid Sorceress presents The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976) on 35mm » The Cinema Museum, London

Here is Jones discussing his iconic role on the 25th anniversary of Field of Dreams.

It’s worth noting that despite his seeming non-interest in the game, Jones is one of those actors who have appeared in multiple baseball flicks, including Kevin Costner (FoD, Bull Durham, and For Love of the Game) and Dennis Haysbert (the Major League films plus Mr. Baseball). A generation earlier, you had Jimmy Stewart who had the titular role in The Stratton Story as well as Strategic Air Command in which he played an All-Star infielder for the St. Louis Cardinals who was called back into military service. Coincidentally, June Allyson plays his wife in both films.

Jones acquitted himself well in his movies’ action scenes, just as Costner and Haysbert had in theirs. As the years rolled on, it was no longer acceptable to have unathletic actors trying to get by (talkin’ about you, Anthony Perkins in Fear Strikes Out, and William Bendix in The Babe Ruth Story).

I wanted to get a feeling about Jones’ baseball work so I reached out to Dan Epstein, an award winning journalist, pop culture historian, and avid baseball fan who is the author of Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of ‘76, Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ’70s, and co-author of Rob Blomberg’s The Captain & Me: On and Off the Field with Thurman Munson.

We discussed Jones’ virtuoso performances despite the fact that the actor wasn’t really that much of a baseball fan. According to Epstein, the scene in FoD in which Costner’s Ray Kinsella takes Terrence Mann to Fenway Park was the first time Jones had been to a major league stadium.