If you build it, he will come. And Major League Baseball will finally show up, too. Next season, for the first time ever, two MLB teams will play on the same farm where Shoeless Joe Jackson emerged from the corn. Three decades after Field of Dreams hit theaters, the league is hosting a game where was the iconic baseball movie was filmed.
Is this heaven? @Yankees– @WhiteSox, see you in Iowa on 8.13.20. pic.twitter.com/5GGbH7TWuq
— MLB (@MLB) August 8, 2019
MLB has announced that the iconic spot in Dyersville, Iowa where Ray Kinsella built a baseball field in the classic 1989 film will play host to an official game between the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees. Set for Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020, it will be nationally televised by Fox (7 p.m. Eastern), though a lucky few will experience the event in-person. MLB will construct a temporary 8,000-seat field that overlooks the original park that was built for the movie, which has been a popular tourist destination ever since. MLB will build its small stadium near the field rather than on top of it. Construction will begin exactly one year before the game is played, and that will include making a pathway through the cornfield for fans to walk through. The temporary park’s right-field wall will also include windows that will overlook the movie’s park. Major League Baseball shared a video showing what it will look like.
If you build it … pic.twitter.com/F3ydl0IQUo
— MLB (@MLB) August 8, 2019
While no MLB team has ever been located in Iowa (the state has never even hosted a Major League Baseball game), the appointed home team White Sox are the most logical participant. Kevin Costner’s Ray Kinsella built the park thinking he was doing it for Shoeless Joe Jackson, one of the eight members of the 1918 White Sox who were banned from baseball for life for throwing the World Series. The other seven expelled members of that team also emerged from the cornfield to play where Shoeless Joe thought was Heaven. No word yet from the afterlife if any of them will be in attendance this time.
If you build it … @Yankees. @whitesox. THE Field of Dreams.
August 13, 2020. pic.twitter.com/RuBpS04BgG
— Cut4 (@Cut4) August 8, 2019
The stupid Yankees were obviously chosen because every good story needs a good villain. (Yes, I am from Boston—how could you tell?)
Featured Image: Universal Pictures