James Earl Jones, a legendary stage and movie personality, died on Monday at the age of ninety-three, leaving the world without a treasure. Despite the fact that Jones is most remembered for playing Darth Vader in the Star Wars films, his incredible career lasted almost 70 years, and throughout that time, his distinctive voice and presence were responsible for many of the most iconic scenes in a large number of plays, television series, and movies.

According to MLive’s Evan Woodbery, the Detroit Tigers honored the renowned actor with a sequence from the 1989 movie Field of Dreams before Tuesday’s game against the Colorado Rockies.

James Earl Jones tribute before the game featured a scene from Field of Dreams. pic.twitter.com/6kxDd3H3iY

— Evan Woodbery (@evanwoodbery) September 10, 2024

Baseball enthusiasts cherish Jones’ performance as Terence Mann from the film Field of Dreams, which is mostly about baseball and charging people to view a corn field but also about farms, mortgages, and bank foreclosures.

Jones’ well-known speech as Mann persuades Ray Kinsella, played by Kevin Costner, to stick with his baseball field conversion despite the risk of going bankrupt. Tigers performed the scene on the scoreboard prior to Tuesday’s opening pitch, as reported by Motor City Bengals’ tigermike1975 on X.

The Tigers emphasize James Earl Jones’ baseball connections.

“Ray, people will come. Baseball has been the one constant over the years, Ray. America has progressed like a steamroller army. Like a blackboard, it has been erased, reconstructed, and erased once more. However, baseball has signaled the hour. Ray, this field and this game are remnants of our past. It brings to memory all that was once wonderful and might still be. Yes, Ray, people will arrive. In the movie, Mann’s character Jones made a prophecy that people will undoubtedly arrive.

The Tigers are honoring one of the greatest actors in American history with a heartfelt speech on the nation’s favorite pastime. It’s interesting to note that Jones attended the University of Michigan, located roughly 40 minutes away from both Comerica Park and the location of the former Tigers Stadium, after growing up in Dublin, Michigan.

Sadly, Detroit has not had many visitors this season. With 22,891 average attendance in 2024, the Tigers rank 24th in baseball. This season, 1,510,813 people have seen Tigers games overall, ranking 26th in MLB.

As of Tuesday’s play, the Tigers are two games over.500. The squad is ranked number 15 in the MLB Power Rankings and nine games behind the Cleveland Guardians, who lead the American League Central. Detroit is still very much in the postseason picture, though, as the Tigers are locked for the last AL Wild Card berth with the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners, three games behind the Minnesota Twins.

Keider Montero, a rookie, records the Tigers’ first shutout in three seasons.

DETROIT: The Tigers defeated the Colorado Rockies 11-0 on Tuesday night behind the solo shutout tossed by rookie Keider Montero, which was his first in three seasons.

During his 14th major league start, Montero (5-6) made history by being the first pitcher for the Tigers to pitch nine shutout innings since Spencer Turnbull’s no-hitter at Seattle on May 18, 2021. Only Michael Fulmer (23 years and 152 days) and Justin Verlander (23 years, 91 days) are older than Montero, who is the third-youngest Tigers pitcher with a shutout in the last 20 seasons at 24 years and 66 days.

Through an interpreter, Montero shared, “I focused on throwing every pitch in the strike zone, and [catcher Jake Rogers] called an excellent game.” He added, “I was attacking hitters no matter the score and trusted my teammates to make the plays behind me.”

The right-hander faced the minimum 27 batters, using just 96 pitches to complete his 16th shutout of the season. He allowed no walks, gave up three hits, and struck out five.

Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said, “This was a big night for Keider and for our team.”

Although a last-minute lineup change meant Montero was only working with Rogers for the second time this season, he had initially expected to pitch to Dillon Dingler, who often catches him in Triple-A Toledo and Detroit.

“We surprised him with a new catcher about 90 minutes before the game, which wasn’t ideal, but he and Jake handled it well,” Hinch remarked.

The Tigers’ infield turned double plays after each of Colorado’s three hits, which came from Ryan McMahon in the second, Ezequiel Tovar in the seventh, and Aaron Schunk in the eighth.

Rockies manager Bud Black praised Montero, saying, “He has a really strong four-pitch mix — a lively fastball, two different breaking balls, and a good changeup — and he throws a lot of strikes. It’s rare these days to see a complete game with such a low pitch count.”

Parker Meadows drove in three runs in the first inning, including his sixth solo home run.

In four innings, Rockies starter Bradley Blalock (1-3) gave up five hits, five runs, and five walks.

“Bradley was the complete opposite of Montero,” Black claimed. “In nine innings, he didn’t walk a batter, and in four innings, Bradley faced more than 80 pitches and five walks. The ball needs to be placed in the strike zone.

After Colorado’s pitchers retired the final 23 batters in the team’s 4-1 victory over Milwaukee on Sunday, Meadows drove Blalock’s second pitch into the right-field bleachers, ending the run. It was the first time that Grayson High School teammates Meadows and Blalock had faced off against one another in the majors.

Bradley Blalock (1-3), the Rockies’ starter, gave up five hits, five runs, and five walks in four innings.

“Bradley was the complete opposite of Montero,” stated Black. Bradley was hit by five pitches and faced over 80 pitches in four innings, although he did not walk a batter in nine innings. The ball must land in the strike zone.

In Sunday’s 4-1 victory over Milwaukee, Colorado pitchers retired the final 23 batters, but Meadows struck Blalock’s second pitch into the right-field bleachers to finish the run. Meadows and Blalock, who were teammates at Grayson High School in Georgia during their high school years, had never faced each other in the major leagues before.

Riley Greene tripled into the right-field corner to make it 4-0 after the Tigers loaded the bases in the second inning on two walks and an error. After after, Matt Vierling extended Detroit’s lead to five with an RBI single.

Against Anthony Molina, Meadows led by two runs in the sixth inning with a single; Vierling’s sacrifice fly gave him the eighth run. Later on, Andy Ibanez singled home two runs, leading to a six-run inning for the Tigers.

David Price, the last pitcher for the Tigers to record a “Maddux” (a shutout in fewer than 100 pitches, named after Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux), did it on June 12, 2015, against Cleveland.

Since STATS started keeping track of pitch counts in 1988, Montero is the first MLB rookie to have a 27-batter “Maddux”.