All you need to know about MLB’s Field of Dreams game in Iowa
For sports fans, things are always about being inspired, about dreaming of the perfect game, about a new championship, about that perfect trade or signing for next season. It’s all about magic when it comes to enjoying the game they love. Movies have also become an important part of sports in general, but also about fans’ lives, they provide that extra ingredient that we sometimes need, that story or coverage that makes our eyes water, and inspire us to try to be better.
A few years ago, back in 1989 to be more specific, Universal Pictures, Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones, Amy Madigan and a few more, gave us fans, and baseball fans specially, one of the best sports movies of all times, “Field of Dreams”, a movie based on a 1982 book called “Shoeless Joe”, and a movie that stayed in baseball fans’ mind and heart forever. “If you build it, he will come”, most of you will understand and will get goosebumps probably.
In the movie, the main character struggles with personal situations, and when he’s about to lose his farm, he decides to build a baseball field, to try and turn things around, surrounded by mystical and magical events, that lead up to “ghost players” coming to play in his field, and eventually being able to bring people over and make some money to save his family’s lands. Just to make a really quick and general summary. Anyway, the movie became one of baseball’s treasures, it has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, and MLB didn’t lose any time, and made sure to join the hype, and try to give something back to the fans.
There will be an official MLB Field of Dreams game
An actual ballpark was built right next to the original field in Iowa, it’s a specially constructed 8000-seat stadium in Dyersville, Iowa, which was unveiled by the MLB, and an official game will take place there on August 12th, White Sox vs Yankees, and it will be open to public, knowing that this will be a remarkable moment in MLB history, and that fans will appreciate it for life.
Originally, the game was supposed to be played on August 13th of 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic quickly changed all plans. The game had to be postponed, and the MLB switched to the St. Louis Cardinals instead of the Yankees, but when they decided to move it to 2021, the league went back to the original plan, White Sox vs Yankees, to honor the movie.
The White Sox will be the home in the matchup because of their role in the 1989 movie, in which the ghosts of “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and other members of the 1919 Black Sox play on the diamond in the Iowa cornfield. Game tickets will be available to residents of Iowa only, as well as a few MLB guests and former players who will attend, and there will be a lottery for the chance to get the tickets, similar to the system they already use for big events like the FIFA World Cup, or UEFA Euros, where people from all over the world must register and opt for the chance to purchase their tickets