If you build it, Major League Baseball will come.
I have a confession to make: The first (and so far only) time I watched Field of Dreams, I fell asleep.
Not out of disinterest in the (frankly bizarre) plot or apathy toward watching a young Kevin Costner for an hour and a half. I was an overstressed college student lounging in a comfy bed. Who could blame me?
But I’ll get a second chance to experience the fantasy-drama sports film when it becomes a big-league reality next year.
On Aug. 13, 2020, the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees will stage Iowa’s first Major League game in a temporary 8,000-seat ballpark constructed on the same Dyersville farm where the 1989 movie was shot.
“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,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.
The cleverly titled MLB at Field of Dreams presented by GEICO event will be nationally broadcast on FOX at 7 p.m. ET. Don’t worry: You’ve got more than a year to set up the recording.
“We look forward to celebrating the movie’s enduring message of how baseball brings people together at this special cornfield in Iowa,” Manfred said.
Based on W.P. Kinsella’s book “Shoeless Joe,” the film features Costner as Ray, a farmer who hears a mysterious voice in his cornfield saying, “If you build it, he will come.”
So, like any normal blue-collar American, he assembles a baseball diamond on his land, attracting the ghosts of great players—including “Shoeless” Joe Jackson.
Unfortunately, Joe Jackson can’t make it to next year’s big game. But the controversial outfielder, remembered most for his alleged association with the Black Sox Scandal (in which members of the 1919 White Sox conspired to fix the World Series), will be there in spirit.
Played on a Thursday, the game will be considered a White Sox home date, followed by a Friday off-day before the two clubs resume their three-game series in Chicago.
Construction on the makeshift park (which will pay homage to Cominskey Park, the White Sox’ home for 80 years) begins on Tuesday, Aug. 13—exactly one year ahead of the game, and 30 years since the release* of Field of Dreams.
Windows along the right-field wall will overlook the movie set and cornfields beyond.
“Field of Dreams‘ captures the uniqueness of Iowans’ can-do attitude, and there’s no better place to host our state’s very first Major League game than this legendary baseball field in Dyersville,” Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said. “I look forward to this historic event in 2020.
“As the famous movie quote goes, ‘Is this heaven?’ ‘No, it’s Iowa,’” she added.
Information on limited ticket availability will be announced in the coming months.
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* OK, so the film was released on April 21, 1989. It’s close enough.
