“Ray, people will come Ray. They’ll come to Iowa for reasons they can’t even fathom. They’ll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they’re doing it. They’ll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won’t mind if you look around…you’ll say it’s only $20 per person. They’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it, for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they’ll walk out to the bleachers, sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They’ll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they’ll watch the game and it’ll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they’ll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come, Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, it’s a part of our past Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh…people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.” And people do come…
Perhaps the most iconic baseball movie ever made is Field of Dreams (1989). In the movie, the words above were spoken by James Earl Jones’ character writer Terrance Mann. What Terrance predicted has indeed come true. People do come. They come to Iowa to visit Ray’s ball field in the corn. I have been there. And it is wonderful.
Field of Dreams relates the story of Ray Kinsella (played by Kevin Costner), an Iowa farmer who hears a mysterious voice one night coming from his cornfield. The voice keeps saying, “If you build it, he will come.” Ray decides to act. Despite taunts of lunacy, with the support of his wife Annie (played by Amy Madigan), Ray tills under a large part of his cornfield and builds a baseball diamond, believing this is what the voice is telling him to do. Soon after the field is finished, ghosts of great players start emerging from the corn to play ball. First to appear is White Sox star “Shoeless” Joe Jackson.
In the movie, Joe asks Ray, “Is this heaven?”
Ray answers, “No, it’s Iowa.”
For anyone who loves the game, this nostalgic baseball movie is golden. But it’s about more than baseball. It’s about fathers and sons. The deeper story centers on death, regret, and Ray’s strained relationship with his deceased father. Watching this movie makes me ache for my dad. In the end, one of the players that shows up to play is Ray’s father, giving them both the opportunity for needed reconciliation. And they have a game of catch on Ray’s ballfield. You can visit the Field of Dreams today. Recently, I had the opportunity to do just that.
Last October, my wife and I took a road trip, traveling from Texas to Michigan to attend a friend’s wedding. On the way home we detoured through Iowa to visit family, and at the prompting of a dear friend (thank you John Soto!) we decided to include a visit to the Field of Dreams.
The Field of Dreams baseball diamond has become a pop-culture tourist attraction. It was built by Universal Pictures in 1988 for the movie, and is located in a cornfield outside of Dyersville, Iowa (a good name for a town). When the movie production was completed, the field was left behind. Most of the field, along with the farmhouse seen in the movie, was owned by Don and Becky Lansing. Don’s grandparents bought the farm in 1906. The Lansing’s neighbors, the Ameskamp family, owned the adjacent property, covering left and center field. The ball field was built across two properties so that sunset shots in the movie would have a clear line-of-sight.
For several years, both families accepted visitors, even setting up small souvenir stands to accommodate the public.
In 1990, neighboring farmer and friend Keith Rahe, organized a baseball team dubbed the “Ghost Players” to entertain visitors once a month. These games drew thousands of fans to the ball field. In the years since, several celebrity and special MLB games have been played at the field, along with concerts and other events.
In 2007 the property was sold to Go the Distance Baseball, a private partnership committed to preserving the movie site. New events continue to be held at the venue, and the field is open to visitors year-round, sunrise to sunset, weather permitting.
Additional development is in progress nearby with a 24-field youth baseball and softball complex planned. The complex is known as All-Star Ballpark Heaven.
For 150 years baseball has been perhaps the most positive constant in American life. And one small ball field nestled among the cornfields in Iowa can remind us of that…
Field of Dreams
