Kevin Costner has never played professional baseball. He has never coached professional baseball. He has never been involved in baseball in any other manner than as "movie star." But those movies have linked him inextricably to the game: "Field of Dreams" and "Bull Durham" are two of the sport's best film adaptations, and Costner was at the center of both.
Weirdly, Kevin Costner is the essence of baseball. Such is the power of the silver screen.
Now, Costner is looking to turn a new page on that reputation. He's getting involved in real, actual baseball, and he's doing it in the Chicagoland area. According to an interview he gave on WGN this morning, Costner is bringing a minor league independent baseball team to Zion.
Starting the team is "kind of a way to be associated with baseball other than being a washed up catcher," the actor said, referring to his role as Durham Bulls catcher Crash Davis in the classic baseball film "Bull Durham."
Visiting LakeCountyBaseball.com reveals that tickets are set to go on sale in 30 days, and that the team will begin playing in the summer of 2010. This doesn't make sense; are tickets really in such high demand for a Costner-ized baseball team that we need to start buying them in March? Is Kevin Costner that powerful? In any case, the stadium is set to be built in the brand new Trumpet Park business development. It will have skyboxes, a restaurant, and will seat around 8,000 fans.
Here's our question: Will James Earl Jones be there? Will there be ghost-like Yankee players that run out of the outfield? If so, nevermind our qualms about the ticket sales. We want to see that, too.
