Like many kids that grew up in the 80's I was a Star Wars fan. I still like
the franchise, but I'm not nearly as big of a fan as I used to be. Disney has
oversaturated us with more movies and television shows than any casual fan
could keep up with. Still, my love of the original trilogy remains, and I
can't help but be amused by how today has exploded into the culture as it has
(I remember when it was just a cheesy little pun, well before Star Wars had
it's own "
day").
Years ago,
I wrote a post connecting legendary actor James Earl Jones, the
voice of Darth Vader, with all of the baseball movies he's appeared in (5 in
total!). To be honest, I was going to just re-post that for today, but then
through the magic of A.I., I made a discovery that made me want to write a
whole new post sharing the connection of actors who have appeared in the
original Star Wars trilogy as well as a baseball movie!
According to my research, there have been 3 Star Wars alumni who have graced
us within the confines of a baseball move. (My "discovery" however, deserves
an honorable mention of it's own!)
James Earl Jones
Makes sense to start with the iconic Mr. Jones, who has appeared in two of the
most famous and well-loved baseball movies out there. As the elusive writer
Terrence Mann, Jones delivered the famous "People will come" speech in "
Field Of Dreams". Four
years later, he played the blind Mr. Mertle in the "
The Sandlot". He is credited in 3 other baseball themed movies. Ironically, it's been reported he wasn't much of a fan of baseball.
Harrison Ford
In 2013, the Jackie Robinson biopic "
42" came out, and Harrison Ford played a rebel of a completely different kind. Instead of fighting the Evil Empire, Ford's Branch Rickey fought an entirely real evil as one of the central forces behind Jackie's integration to the major leagues.
Billy Dee Williams
Billy Dee Williams played the lead character in the cult-classic 1976 movie "
The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings". The movie is about a rag-tag group of barnstorming ex-negro League players, and feature once again James Earl Jones (as well as the always hilarious Richard Pryor!)
Honorable Mention: Mark Hamill
While researching this post, I came across a hidden gem featuring Luke Skywalker himself! Although not a baseball movie, Hamill once played a baseball player in a made-for-TV movie anthology.
As a Western New York native, what really caught my eye was that it sure looks like Hamill is wearing a
Buffalo Bisons jersey - very cool!
Now what makes this particular movie totally insane is that we're deep into genre of horror here folks! The movie is called "
Body Bags", and appeared on Showtime back in 1993 as sort of a "Tales From The Crypt" wannabe. The movie featured 3 unrelated tales of terror introduced by a character called the Coroner, played by the legendary "Halloween" writer John Carpenter!
Mark Hamill appears in the story "Eye". He plays an aging professional baseball player who suffers a horrible accident before he gets called up to the Big Leagues. In a desperate attempt to get his life and career back, he accepts an experimental eye transplant. Being a horror tale, you can probably guess what kind of person the original owner of the eye was, as well as what effect it has on our baseball player...
I may have to track this down somewhere and watch it...
Happy Star Wars Day everyone! May the force be with you!
