Photos below!BEEN THERE: August 1998 (with Jacqueline); June 2024; June 2026.
"Is this heaven?" -- Ray Liotta*, as Shoeless Joe Jackson. "No, it's Iowa." -- Kevin Costner, as Ray Kinsella.
"The one constant through the years, Ray, is baseball." James Earl Jones, as the fictitious retired radical author Terence Mann, to Kevin Costner.
"If you build it, he will come." -- The Voice to Kevin Costner.
"Ease his pain." -- The Voice to Kevin Costner.
"Go the distance." -- The Voice to Kevin Costner.
This mystical little ballpark sits on a slope leading down to a stream, which visitors cross on their way into the parking lot. The field is therefore inclined rather significantly, with the right field edge being about five feet above home plate. In much of urban America, Iowa has the reputation for being an endless flatland, but in fact it consists mostly of rolling hills. The land on which this movie set was constructed actually stretches across a property line, and there are two separate gravel driveways leading in from the county road. After the movie was completed, the owner of the land in left and center field plowed under his half of the field and planted corn there, obviously motivated by rational business concerns. After many earnest appeals from baseball fans, they relented and started competing for tourist dollars by building a separate souvenir stand on their side.
CINEMA: The "Field of Dreams" was featured in the classic movie Field of Dreams (1988), obviously, or else it never would have been built.
* IMHO, Ray Liotta, a "wise-guy" from New York-New Jersey, was not a good casting choice to play Shoeless Joe Jackson, a country bumpkin from South Carolina.
I was surprised to learn from Philip Lowry's book Green Cathdrals that the field dimensions of the original ball field are so small. (They probably changed from year to year after this locale became a tourist attraction.) The estimated "original" seating capacity of 84 was based on 12 seats in each of the seven rows of the wooden bleacher behind first base.
One of the magical aspects of the movie was the way the players vanished into the cornfield after they finished playing. For a recreation of that movie special effect, see the cornfield photo below. (Speaking of which, late summer is by far the best time of year to visit the Field of Dreams, to get the closest "feel" to the original movie.) The reincarnated ghost players had to stay within the playing field or else forfeit their once-in-an-afterlifetime excursion into mortal existence once and for all. Burt Lancaster, as the rookie who only played for one inning in the major leagues before pursuing a career in medicine, saved Ray Kinsella's daughter's life. Links to relevant Web sites about the movie, and the book by W. P. Kinsella on which it was based, are found at the bottom of this page.
Indulging in fantasy is not everyone's cup of tea, but as long as baseball retains its special place in the hearts of Americans, this place will continue to serve a sanctuary from the rapid-fire, harshness of modern life. If you're anywhere close, take a couple extra hours to pay a visit. It's located a couple miles northeast of Dyersville, Iowa, which is about 25 miles west of Dubuque. The town has two other claims to fame: the Basilica of St. Francis Xavier, which has a very impressive twin spire, and the National Farm Toy Museum.
After a one-year postponement due to the covid-19 pandemic, on August 12, 2021 an official MLB game was held at a temporary stadium built just west of the Field Of Dreams ball field. It was a lot like Fort Bragg Field in North Carolina, both in terms of layout and the temporary structure. (See the Anomalous Stadiums page.) The Chicago White Sox hosted the New York Yankees, and the "home team" won the game on a dramatic walk-off home run by Tim Anderson. One year later the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs played the second MLB game there. During the first half of 2026 construction of a permanent stadium was completed (diagram pending), after it was decided to make such an MLB game an annual (or at least semi-regular) event. The Minnesota Twins hosted the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday, August 13, two days after the Triple-A Iowa Cubs hosted the St. Paul Saints. It is expected that collegiate and minor league games will be held at this hallowed site every year for the foreseeable future.
MLB games at the Field Of Dreams
| Year | "Visiting" team | Score | "Home" team | Score | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | New York Yankees | 8 | Chicago White Sox | 9 | 7,832 |
| 2022 | Cincinnati Reds | 2 | Chicago Cubs | 4 | 7,823 |
| 2026 | Philadelphia Phillies | 7 | Minnesota Twins | 1 | 7,163 |
| 2027 | Boston Red Sox | Kansas City Royals |
SOURCE: MLB.com, Wikipedia
FAN TIPS: Joe Schallan, Mark London
Links
Field of Dreams, Internet Movie Database
Shoeless Joe, by W. P. Kinsella (Amazon.com)
www.fieldofdreamsmoviesite.com
| The Clem Criteria: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Field asymmetry |
Archi- tectural design |
Seat proximity |
Location * | Aesthetics | Overall |
| 3 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 6.4 |
* See the Stadium locations page.
Visit Iowa!
If you like corn fields, giant windmills, and endless rolling hills, you'll love Iowa! In fact, it's a lot like South Dakota, Missouri, or Illinois, without the extreme concentrations of people or empty prairies. It's not for nothing that the book Shoeless Joe, upon which the movie was based, was set in Iowa. The farm state epitomizes the idealized values that many people yearn for. As far as tourist attractions, the Basilica in nearby Dyersville is quite impressive, as is the baseball museum there. Farther west in Iowa, there is a museum to Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller in the town of Van Meter, Iowa, just west of the state capital, Des Moines.
Iowa State Capitol, Dyersville Basilica, Bob Feller Museum, and view of the Missouri River valley from an observation tower along I-80.
