Off Topic - Field of Dreams

JolyB · #1 08-11-2021, 11:27 AM

This is not racing related, but I wanted to mention for any baseball fans or Kevin Costner fans that this Thursday evening the Yankees and the White Sox will be playing an official MLB game in Dyersburg, Iowa at a newly built baseball field in the immediate vicinity of the original site used for the Field of Dreams movie more than 3 years ago.

The event sounds like it was made for TV since the field only has bleacher seating for about 8,000 spectators and from aerial photos of the field, parking appears to be even more limited.

When I first read about the event I wondered how they could play an MLB game on the movie set, since it appeared to be much too small. As it turns out, an entirely new field was carved out of a cornfield not far away, but with dimentions that are closer to MLB standards. I think you can still expect that the cornfields will be prominent.

Should be interesting to see if only for the novelty. I think that Fox Sports will have coverage.

cal828 · #2 08-11-2021, 12:24 PM

Makes me think of my Dad. He was a huge baseball fan. I didn't inherit any of that. Don't watch much sports of any kind anymore except for horse racing. I think our family was the last one in our neighborhood that got a TV and I have no doubt it happened when my Dad discovered he could watch baseball on the tube. He loved to watch a broadcast by Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese and he loved the White Sox. I think his favorite player was a guy named Nellie Fox. I'm pretty sure my Dad harbored notions of being a pro baseball player, but he ended up going to work in the oilfields of Northern Louisiana at the ripe old age of 14. Only had an 8th grade education, but he could run a drilling rig and did so for 50+ years.

JolyB · #3 08-11-2021, 01:16 PM

If your Dad loved the White Sox around the 50's I can understand why Nellie Fox was his favorite player. He was the face of the Sox for many years, always with a very large wad of chewing tobacco in his cheek. He was not very tall or very powerful or very fast, but he was able to get the maximum out of his abilities by hustle and determination. Never seemed to commit an error. Nellie used a bat with a very broad handle and choked up, so he was impossible to strike out and always seems to be the one to get a key single. He and his shortstop teammate Luis Aparicio put the "go" in the "go-go Sox" pennant winner of 1959 to break the Yankee string of pennants. They are both now in the Hall of Fame

Left us much too soon due to cancer.

cal828 · #4 08-11-2021, 02:34 PM

I think the year that we got our TV was 1958 so I imagine my Dad did get to see all that. I can understand why he identified with Nellie Fox in that my Dad was a little guy too, but a little giant. His job was far more difficult physically than anything I was ever involved in. Drilling rigs in those days, maybe still, ran around the clock in 3 shifts like a factory or a hospital, but the crazy thing was that they operated 7 days a week until they either brought in a well or they gave up and declared it a dry hole. My work compared to that was child's play. The only thing that I did that was difficult was one helluva lot of driving. After I retired it almost took its toll on me in that I developed skin cancer in my left sideburn which totally makes sense when you think of where the steering mechanism on a car is. I was constantly being exposed to the sun and dummy that I am never thought about sun screen, but a Doc that specialized in that sort of thing was able to scoop it out and no problems since.

DonGuido · #5 08-12-2021, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JolyB

If your Dad loved the White Sox around the 50's I can understand why Nellie Fox was his favorite player. He was the face of the Sox for many years, always with a very large wad of chewing tobacco in his cheek. He was not very tall or very powerful or very fast, but he was able to get the maximum out of his abilities by hustle and determination. Never seemed to commit an error. Nellie used a bat with a very broad handle and choked up, so he was impossible to strike out and always seems to be the one to get a key single. He and his shortstop teammate Luis Aparicio put the "go" in the "go-go Sox" pennant winner of 1959 to break the Yankee string of pennants. They are both now in the Hall of Fame

Left us much too soon due to cancer.

Yes JB I'll watch some of the game just because of the unique location, love the movie. I played ball all my life growing (2 yrs of college ball as a "little guy too) I loved it more than my luggage. I also coached youth ball for over 20 years. All that said I rarely watch MLB any more. I'll watch college games and love the CWS. And since we are close to the same vintage I was an avid Yankee fan growing up in upstate. There were too many Bronx Bomber greats during the 50's and early 60's to list but I did like many others on other teams like: Ernie Banks, Willie Mays, and one not as notable by the name of Johnny Logan (Braves). He was a casual friend of my father having met on the golf course when he was in the Navy. I had his autograph on a baseball but of course have no idea where it disappeared to.

Today's players are almost robotic physical specimens stronger in one arm than the hard drinking, gambling, chain smoking, tabacco chewing, carousing players I mentioned earlier. Home runs are a dime a dozen anymore and small ball has gone by the wayside. Pitchers are 6-6 or more and seem to have bionic arms. Truly the great MLB gone-by era will be no more.

Then there's Clemson Tiger football in a little over three weeks.

DonGuido · #6 08-12-2021, 09:55 AM

An added note . . . the corn field (or fence) looks awfully short/close to me. I'm betting 10 dingers+. Whose over or under on this???

Well maybe not, just looked it up. 335 downs the lines 380 power allies and 400 deep center. Not bad.

JolyB · #7 08-12-2021, 10:18 AM

I'll take the under.
If they were playing on the field that was the original set for the movie, even pop flies would end up in the cornfield. That would give an entirely new meaning to the term "can of corn"

But an entirely new field has been constructed for this game, located just to the north of the original site. Its dimentions meet current MLB standards and are supposed to be reminiscent to the old Comiskey Park, where the White Sox used to play.

Here's is a link to an article in the Des Moines Register that has lots of photos of the new field and info on the game. You may need to scrool down through all of the photo displays in the article. It may be hokey but should still be fun, especially for old time baseball fans [if you remember Johnny Logan as one of the Braves of the 50's who made the move from Boston to Milwaukee, you qualify]

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/st...ox/5557003001/

DonGuido · #8 08-13-2021, 10:50 AM

That ball game was extremely entertaining from the opening intro, to the film clips breaks to very exciting ball game . . . thinking the Yankees were done but "it's not over 'till it's over" but wait another dinger by the Sox . . . a walk off to win the game. It was like Kevin Costner wrote the script and it was really a movie.

What a show and what a ballgame!!! And maybe we saw what Heaven might be like!!!

JB, not sure how many 4 baggers were hit but I bet I was very close to 10.

JolyB · #9 08-13-2021, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DonGuido

That ball game was extremely entertaining from the opening intro, to the film clips breaks to very exciting ball game . . . thinking the Yankees were done but "it's not over 'till it's over" but wait another dinger by the Sox . . . a walk off to win the game. It was like Kevin Costner wrote the script and it was really a movie.

What a show and what a ballgame!!! And maybe we saw what Heaven might be like!!!

JB, not sure how many 4 baggers were hit but I bet I was very close to 10.

I counted 8, including the walk-off. Might have missed one. The ball was flying out in that hot, dry Iowa air.

Quite a game. They will be talking about it in Dyersville for decades to come.