Post by nutsberryfarm ⛑ on Aug 8, 2019 21:54:07 GMT
www.telegraphherald.com/news/breaking/article_aafc09f5-f1fb-57bf-95de-41210a5ef656.html
DYERSVILLE, Iowa – Major League Baseball is coming to the Field of Dreams movie site next year.
The Chicago White Sox announced this morning that they will play the New York Yankees on Aug. 13, 2020, at the iconic Dyersville site.
“We found out last night that the city of Dyersville will be hosting a Major League Baseball game,” said City Administrator Mick Michel this morning. “This is something that the city and the folks at the Field of Dreams have been working on since 2015. The city is very enthusiastic and excited. For the city, there is every positive emotion out there. You can’t express it using words. We are very happy.”
He later added, "How great is this for our community, for Dubuque County and for Iowa?”
A press release states that the teams will play “the first-ever Major League game in the Hawkeye State in a temporary 8,000-seat ballpark constructed in the corn on the Dyersville farm site where the classic film was shot.”
That temporary ballpark will be built near the iconic field featured in the movie.
Presented by GEICO, the game will be broadcast nationally on FOX.
“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,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in the release. “We look forward to celebrating the movie’s enduring message of how baseball brings people together at this special cornfield in Iowa.”
Played on a Thursday, the game will be considered a White Sox home game, followed by a Friday off day before the two clubs resume their three-game series at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago on that Saturday.
Construction on the small ballpark that will house the game will begin Tuesday, Aug. 13, exactly one year from the date of the game and a little more than 30 years from the release of the movie starring Kevin Costner and based on W.P. Kinsella’s Shoeless Joe novel.
Michel said issues such as parking will be handled by Major League Baseball and the Field of Dreams site.
“Since we’re the host city, we’re here to help,” he said. “Major League Baseball is a class act to work with.”
A community of about 4,200 people, Dyersville has hosted large events before.
“We can handle this type of event. We’ve proven ourselves the past 30 years with the (National Farm Toy Show), Team of Dreams (events at the Field of Dreams), and Netflix had a previous event with Kevin Costner,” Michel said. “We’re looking forward to having 8,000 guests in Dyersville.”
The design of the temporary ballpark in Dyersville will echo Comiskey Park, the home of the White Sox from 1910 to 1990. The right-field wall will include windows to show the cornfields beyond the ballpark, which will overlook the movie set.
Fans attending the game will walk along a pathway through a cornfield.
“It was a dream of (late Field of Dreams movie site owner) Denise Stillman to allow the legacy of the Field of Dreams to live on,” Michel said.