Nothing corny about the success of this "Field of Dreams'' game
New York Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton walks on the field with earns of corn in his back pockets before a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021, in Dyersville, Iowa. The Yankees and White Sox are playing at a temporary stadium in the middle of a cornfield at the Field of Dreams movie site, the first Major League Baseball game held in Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) Credit: AP/Charlie Neibergall
So what did MLB learn from Thursday night’s "Field of Dreams" game in Dyersville, Iowa?
Get ready for a few sequels. And if the people in charge of running this sport are smart — namely commissioner Rob Manfred and union chief Tony Clark — more spinoffs should follow.
We’re not saying that ballparks should sprout from every cornfield in the middle of the U.S. The one they used for Thursday’s inaugural event, which culminated in the White Sox’s riveting 9-8 victory over the Yankees, probably is sufficient for this particular genre.
But taking a more grassroots approach to the game is something that’s been lost with MLB’s contraction of the minor leagues, so maybe it’s not the worst idea to push for additional barnstorming games at remote venues — in part to reconnect with the soul of the sport.
Both the Yankees and White Sox seemed to genuinely appreciate the small-town feel of the Dyersville project, and what’s the big deal about moving one game out of 162 for a handful of teams every season?
We get some of this vibe each spring training with the smaller venues, but those games don’t count, and the stars see limited playing time.
Sure, it’s going to be difficult to generate even a fraction of Thursday’s buzz. Manfred can’t just grab a catalog of baseball movies, send out construction crews and give everything the Hollywood treatment. But even though many people — including myself — probably wouldn’t include "Field of Dreams" in their Top 5 list of hardball flicks, it created the perfect synergy for Thursday’s loving recreation.
Members of the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees take the field prior to a game at the Field of Dreams on August 12, 2021 in Dyersville, Iowa. Credit: Getty Images/Stacy Revere
How perfect? The ticket demand for the 8,000-seat ballpark was off the charts, with an average price of $1,413.65, according to TickPick.com, and a peak that reached $3,972 in the days leading up to the event (there also was a lottery for fans in Iowa zip codes).
More telling, however, was the massive TV audience, and when the ratings were revealed Friday, Fox execs already had to be brainstorming for the next "Dreams"-like knockoff.
Thursday’s event was the most-watched regular-season baseball game on any network in the past 16 years. It also boasted the highest average audience for a regular-season game since Yankees-Red Sox on Oct. 1, 2005. And on the subject of rising demographics, Fox said it was the most-watched regular-season game among women and girls since 1998.
Obviously, the "Dreams" game was anything but regular. The 1989 Oscar-nominated film had tremendous crossover appeal, and having its star, Kevin Costner, play a prominent role definitely appealed to casual fans. Maybe some had a problem with Costner summoning the Yankees and the White Sox from the cornfield at the start, but once you’re finally in Dyersville, why go halfway?
DYERSVILLE, IOWA - AUGUST 12: Members of the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees take the field prior to a game at the Field of Dreams on August 12, 2021 in Dyersville, Iowa. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) Credit: Getty Images/Stacy Revere
Play the hits. Follow the winning script. And once you get Costner on the set, use him.
The actor himself sounded a bit starry-eyed that the impact of the movie led us all to this place.
"I didn’t project out that far," Costner said Thursday. "I just projected at the level that I was at that moment — that this movie had a chance to be great. So many of the things we do in life have a chance to be great in the beginning. And it becomes all the decisions that we make as we go . . . It was a perfect little movie that leaned on its final climax, its big car chase, its big crash: Do you want to have a catch? And it worked.
"What I’ve seen out here is a replication of an attention to detail. OK, the place has gotten bigger. But what it’s been is careful, and nuanced, and it’s with love. You can see it."
Interesting sequence of words there. Manfred’s critics would say he’s handled his stewardship of the game in the exact opposite fashion, with clumsy rule changes and shortsighted money grabs. But Manfred gets high marks for making the "Field of Dreams" fantasy a regular-season reality.
Actor Kevin Costner walks to the stands before a baseball game between the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox, Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021 in Dyersville, Iowa, at a temporary stadium in the middle of a cornfield at the Field of Dreams movie site. Credit: AP/Charlie Neibergall
"I think that the people in the commissioner’s office and Major League Baseball that have worked on this project had great respect for the movie," Manfred said. "What the movie means to people, and what the game means to people. And when you start with that bedrock, you make good judgments about whether you should be doing something or whether you should stop doing it.
"Right now, the incoming [feedback] from clubs, major and minor league, college teams, to be a part of this is just so tremendous that it doesn’t feel gimmicky to me."
On paper, the whole project could have come off that way. Faux-plywood accents for the dugouts and a hand-operated scoreboard. The endless horizon of corn. There was a strong Disney vibe to some aspects of it. But what’s so wrong about a baseball theme park?
Even better, the game itself emerged as the star. Despite all of the Hollywood touches that played up the romantic aspects of baseball’s tradition and history, the Yankees and White Sox gave us what we really wanted all along, what we always want: to see a great game.
Watching eight home runs dent the cornstalks never got old, and the ninth-inning plot twists highlighted the most dramatic elements of a no-clock sport. For once, we were made to feel as if the baseball was good enough.
Was modeling a game after a movie really all that gimmicky when we’ve already been handed ghost runners and seven-inning doubleheaders? Just marching two of the AL’s best teams through a cornfield and letting it rip for three hours was great entertainment, as the TV ratings proved.
Giancarlo Stanton took batting practice with cornstalks in his back pocket, then delivered the two-run homer with two outs in the ninth that gave the Yankees their fleeting lead. It seemed as if the movie set still had some magic left over. Or baseball, for that matter.
"Just coming here and playing in the middle of corn," said the White Sox’s Tim Anderson, author of the walk-off blast, "who would’ve thought that?
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
