More than three decades after «Field of Dreams» seeped into the country’s cultural consciousness , with a one-year delay caused by the pandemic, one …
More than three decades after «Field of Dreams» seeped into the country’s cultural consciousness, with a one-year delay caused by the pandemic, one of the most famous cornfields in Hollywood history finally gets the opportunity to host real major league ball. «Is this heaven?» the ghost of John Kinsella asked in the movie that inspired the game to be played Thursday between the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees next to the actual site used in the 1989 film, which is maintained as a tourist attraction. «No, it’s Iowa,» dutiful farmer Ray Kinsella — played by Kevin Costner — responded to his father with a smile before they played catch under the lights in the movie’s most poignant scene. This week, the ball playing isn’t fiction. «Shoeless» Joe Jackson and other long-ago players who took the field in the movie will be replaced by José Abreu and Aaron Judge. The proud and quintessential Midwestern state, usually only in the spotlight every four years during presidential campaigns, will be hosting a Major League Baseball game for the first time when the White Sox and Yankees play at a temporary venue built for about 8,000 fans in tiny Dyersville — population «about 4,400, we’re hoping for in the next census,» said mayor Jim Heavens. The event, part of MLB’s increased effort to grow the game by setting up shop in places without in-person access to the highest level of the sport, has been in the works for years.
