Lest we forget: Ray Liotta

Meant to post this a while back.

The actor famed for, among other roles, his rendition of Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams died last week at the age of 67.

Kevin Costner On Ray Liotta's 'Field Of Dreams' Batting Practice As Shoeless Joe – Deadline

There have been complaints about the casting of and portrayal by Liotta as the shamed Black Sox outfielder. For one thing, there was no attempt at a South Carolinian accent, which I personally found kind of jarring. Second, Liotta batted righty, even though Jackson was a left-hander. According to an trivia entry on the film’s IMDB page,

Although “Shoeless” Joe Jackson was a left-handed hitter, producers decided to let Ray Liotta bat from his natural right-handed side. Liotta often had people point out the inaccuracy to him, to which he would respond, “None of the players ever came back to life either.”

Also from IMDB:

Liotta had no baseball experience and batted right-handed, although “Shoeless” Joe Jackson was a lefty. Phil Alden Robinson — the director and screenwriter of FoD — allowed Liotta to bat with his right, but still put him through several weeks of extensive training with University of Southern California baseball coach and former Brooklyn Dodger Rod Dedeaux in order to be convincing as one of the sport’s greatest hitters. Liotta eventually developed a good swing. The scene where he hits a line-drive straight back at Kevin Costner actually happened. Costner’s fall on the mound was real, and although it was a surprise, he stayed in character.

Here’s what Costner had to say about that scene.

Compare this with what they had to go through in The Pride of the Yankees to get Gary Cooper to look like the lefty Lou Gehrig.

Interestingly, Liotta wore his fielding glove on his right hand.