Kevin Costner gave a lengthy but heartfelt speech as part of the Dodgers pre-game celebration of Vin Scully. It wasn’t his first invite to a similar event.

Fans of a certain age* might remember the stirring pre-game ceremony at the 1999 All-Star game, when MLB invited living members of the newly-crowned All-Century team to take the field.

Appearing on Rich Eisen’s aptly named The Rich Eisen Show, Costner told the story of that night, and how he was originally reluctant to do it.

Well, more like why he was reluctant to do it:

Imagine being a renowned actor and disliking the sound of your own voice to the degree Costner apparently does. He might be in the wrong line of work.

In any case, it’s a great story, and it’s cool that he stood up for the writers involved, though that ceremony did run way, way too long. (Coincidentally, Costner’s speech honoring Vin Scully went quite a bit long as well.)

It’s not hard to realize why Costner maintains such a close association with sports, and baseball in particular. He’s been a part of two of the best baseball movies ever made (Bull Durham and Field of Dreams, if you were curious. Sorry to any For the Love of the Game diehards out there) and he clearly has an appreciation for the history of the sport.

But it’s the behind-the-scenes look at how some of these on-field productions come together that really makes this a worthwhile and fascinating watch.

*may have been a rejected title for Any Given Wednesday

About Jay Rigdon

Jay is a columnist at Awful Announcing. He is not a strong swimmer. He is probably talking to a dog in a silly voice at this very moment.

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