Jim Kaat slowly walked between the rows of corn and emerged onto the field.
As he and his fellow Hall of Famers stepped onto the Field of Dreams outfield, coming out of the corn just as the ghosts of former players did in the 1989 film, the applause was thunderous.
It was part of Major League Baseball's Field of Dreams game that has become a special tradition in Iowa.
"It was one of the coolest moments to walk out from the cornfield and get the reaction from the fans. It couldn't have been better," Kaat said. "I walked with Joe Mauer, Bert Blyleven and Paul Molitor in our group, and the idea was that we just all appeared on the field together at once. That's what I think got such a great crowd reaction.
"It tugs at the heartstrings of a lot of people."
The movie, starring Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones, celebrates the baseball bond of fathers and sons as well as the game's connection to the past - done in a mystical Iowa cornfield.
It ends with Costner playing catch with his deceased father and Jones orating one of the best speeches about baseball before making his way into the cornfield to follow his own dream.
"It exceeded my expectations. I really had no idea of the impact that the movie had on the baseball fans (was this big). I didn't have the same emotional experience about it because my dad worked six days a week and rarely had time to play catch," Kaat said of his Zeeland upbringing. "They took us in golf carts around the back of the right field fence. It would be a great minor league park, not where they actually did the movie, which was like 100 yards away."
After this year's Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Kaat, who was inducted in 2022, got another chance to talk baseball with his fellow Hall of Famers, including this year's class of Jeff Kent, Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones.
"One of the joys of being a Hall of Fame member and being in that fraternity is everyone is so humble and grateful to be there. Because other than the few elite, surefire Hall of Famers, we are so grateful to be in," Kaat said. "I get to meet a lot of the players. I didn't know Jeff Kent that well. I had good conversations with him. Lee Smith and I have become really close. We have a few laughs together for sure. We all really enjoyed the experience of being there."
Tommy John makes way to the cornfieldThe game took on a deeper meaning when Kaat's friend and fellow left-handed pitcher Tommy John died at 83 this week.
Kaat, who won 283 games in his career, mostly for the Minnesota Twins, believes John (288 wins) should be in the Hall of Fame.
"I am so sad about that," Kaat said. "I was able to talk with him the last couple weeks. I told him as long as I was alive, I would be an advocate for him to be in the Hall of Fame."
It isn't just the numbers, but now the impact of the surgery that carries his name.
"When you look at what is done. Dr. Jobe deserves a ton of credit for the surgery. But in Tommy's case, he is the one that put his career on the line because if it didn't work, you probably would have never heard of him.
The lefties met more than 60 years ago, first as opponents, then as teammates.
"I first met Tommy in the mid-60s. We talked a lot about pitching. We were similar pitchers, not overpowering," Kaat said. "We got to be teammates in New York. And I used to tell him if he got in the Hall of Fame and I didn't, I'd be disappointed and if I got in the Hall of Fame and he didn't that he should be disappointed.
"In a perfect world we would have gone in at the same time. It is a giant oversight that he has not been inducted into the Hall of Fame."
Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Jim Kaat, Hall of Famers, emerge from corn at Field of Dreams in 'one of the coolest moments'
Leave a Comment