The "Playing In 'The Field Of Dreams'" Story

It was a an ordinary day.  Talking to my wife about our son, daughter-in-law and grandson heading home after a vacation that took them to Boston, Massachusetts to a few ball games at Fenway Park as well as a stop along the east coast for a swim.  

Fenway Park's Green Monster wall in left field.

Fenway Park, with their "Green Monster" left field wall, has always been one of my favorite baseball stadiums in the United States.  But, I also loved "The Field of Dreams" in Dyersville, Iowa.  You remember that stadium, don't you?  It was  featured in the movie of the same name about an Iowa corn farmer, who heard voices, interprets them as a command to build a baseball diamond in his fields; he does, and the 1919 Chicago White Sox come.  I know it was only fiction, but that story will become a reality very soon according to a recent newspaper article.  Seems Major League Baseball is really going to build the field in eastern Iowa where the movie "Field of Dreams" was filmed.  And, the Chicago White Sox will play the New York Yankees next summer at the site.  

Movie poster for "Field of Dreams"

The game is set for August 13 of 2020.  Dyersville is about 200 miles west of Chicago.  The "stadium" will be a temporary 8,000 seat ballfield, but two honest-to-goodness major league teams will play an official game on the field!  Now, how neat is that.  I can still see in my mind the ghosts of Shoeless Joe Jackson and the other team members of the Chicago White Sox who were banned from the game for throwing the 1919 World Series.  Actually the movie wasn't as much about baseball as it was about a second chance.  The star of the film, Kevin Costner, never had a better role in a movie as far as I'm concerned.  And, actor James Earl Jones was simply perfect in his role as was Burt Lancaster as Doc Graham.  For myself as well as many others, the movie was a reminder that it is never too late to make amends for any wrongdoing you may have done in your life.  But, for Major League Baseball to actually build the "The Field of Dreams" is unbelievable.  Guess they have so many things they have done in the past that were questionable that they now want to make amends by building the fictitious "Field of Dreams."  Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred recently said, "As a sport that is proud of its history linking generations, Major League Baseball is excited to bring a regular-season game to the site of 'Field of Dreams'.  We look forward to celebrating the movie's enduring message of how baseball brings people together at this special cornfield in Iowa."  A video tweeted by Major League Baseball shows NY Yankees star Aaron Judge asking Ray Kinsella, Kevin Costner's character in the 1989 movie, if he was in heaven.  Costner replied with one of the movie's iconic lines - "No, it's Iowa" - and Judge nods before trotting back into the corn beyond the outfield.  Neat, but why not have it a White Sox star rather than a Yankee star?  Major League Baseball will really do it up right by building a pathway through a cornfield that will take fans to the stadium.  The site will overlook the place where Costner's character carved a ballpark out of a field after a mysterious voice told him, "If you build it, they will come."  

They just have to have the White Sox players
walk out of the cornfield to start the game as
it was in the movie.

The right field wall will have windows in it to see the cornstalks behind it and the ballpark's design will honor old Comiskey Park, home of the White Sox from 1910-1990.  This one of a kind game is part of baseball's trend of hosting games outside of traditional ballparks such as the Detroit Tigers vs. Kansas City Royals playing in Omaha in June ahead of the College World Series.  Earlier this season the Yankees played the Boston Red Sox in a two-game series in London.  The game in the newly constructed ball field in Iowa will be played on a Thursday and broadcast for all to see.  Just hope they have the players walk through the cornfield at the edge of the stadium, just like in the movie!  it was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.