Ray is an Iowa farmer who grew up in Montana and inherited a deep love of baseball from his father. He struggles with the financial demands of agriculture but possesses a strong imagination. His willingness to follow mysterious instructions drives him to plow over his corn crop to construct a baseball field. He openly rejects big business and traditional authority figures.

J.D. Salinger is a reclusive, real-life author who lives in New Hampshire and has not published a book in years. Ray travels across the country to find him, believing the writer harbors a deep pain related to baseball. Salinger possesses a sharp creative mind that allows him to perceive impossible occurrences.

Shoeless Joe is a legendary baseball player whose career ended following a bribery scandal during the 1919 World Series. He maintains an absolute love for the sport, telling Ray he would have played for free. His arrival on the Iowa farm validates Ray's mysterious instructions.

Mark is Ray's brother-in-law and a professor at the University of Iowa. He operates as a technology-focused businessman who owns apartment blocks and thousands of acres of farmland. He views Ray's agricultural efforts as failures and attempts to foreclose on the property to modernize it.

Johnny is Ray and Richard's father. He is a World War I veteran who settled in Chicago after being gassed at Passchendaele. He played semi-pro baseball in Florida and California, passing his intense love for the sport down to his son Ray. He strongly defends Shoeless Joe Jackson's reputation.

Richard is Ray's identical twin brother. He works as a barker for a traveling carnival passing through Iowa City. He left home on the morning of his sixteenth birthday following a fight with his father and has been estranged from his family for twenty years.

Archie Graham is a character based on a real person who played a single inning for the New York Giants in 1905. He exists in Ray's journey as both an elderly, respected doctor in Chisholm, Minnesota, and as a young man searching for a place to play baseball. He carries a lifelong wish to hold a bat in a major league game.

Annie is Ray's twenty-four-year-old wife and the daughter of his former landlady. She is cheerful, loving, and highly supportive of Ray's imaginative pursuits. While she lacks a deep knowledge of sports history, she provides crucial emotional grounding for her husband as their financial liabilities mount.

Eddie is an elderly man who previously owned the farm Ray now works. He claims to be the oldest living Chicago Cub and frequently speaks about baseball with religious reverence. He lives in a world of self-constructed history and eagerly accepts Ray's invitation to visit the new field.

Karin is Ray and Annie's five-year-old daughter. She naturally accepts the presence of baseball players in the cornfield and happily watches the games alongside Ray. She eats hot dogs and drinks sodas while observing the supernatural events.

Abner is Mark's business partner. He shares Mark's corporate mindset and assists in the effort to take over Ray's farm to implement computer-based agricultural operations.

Gypsy is Richard's girlfriend. She travels with the carnival in Iowa City, working at the change booth. She has a tough exterior but possesses an open mind that allows her to perceive magical occurrences.