White Sox Win Dreamy Field of Dreams Game

The long delayed major league baseball game at the Dyersville, Iowa location of the 1989 Kevin Costner film “Field of Dreams” finally was played on August 12th. Originally, it was to be a matchup of the Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals, but the game was delayed a year due to Covid-19. The White Sox played the New York Yankees this year instead of the Cardinals.

The game was played in an 8000 capacity ballpark located near the movie set ball diamond (and separated by a corn field) which has since become a big tourist attraction in northeast Iowa (it doesn’t have a lot of competition; the region is mostly farmland. Dyersville does have a large farm toy museum as well). The White Sox wore 1919 throwback uniforms and both teams entered the playing field by walking though the cornfield beyond the outfield. Kevin Costner was on hand, and the game was nationally televised. Tickets to the game were limited to Iowa residents in a lottery (though some tickets were resold at a exorbitant prices on the secondary market).

So could the actual game live up to the hype? It sure did. The White Sox led 7-4 going into the 9th inning, but the Yankees took an 8-7 lead with a pair of two out two run home runs by Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. But in the bottom of the 9th, White Sox catcher Seby Zavala walked with one out; he was followed by shortstop Tim Anderson, who hit the 1st pitch from Zack Britton for a game winning two run home run.

Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced that there will be another Field of Dreams game in 2022, with a date and clubs to be announced. It will probably be held in August again since the corn is tall and it just wouldn’t be the same if the players walked out of one foot high corn in early June.