MLB Returns to Field of Dreams in Permanent Ballpark
The Minnesota Twins host the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday in Dyersville, Iowa, in a new 3,000-seat stadium built beside the movie site after a four-year hiatus.
Major League Baseball is back at the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa, after a four-year hiatus, this time in a permanent ballpark built beside the site of the 1989 film.
The Minnesota Twins host the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday. With temporary bleachers added for the major league crowd, there will be seating for about 8,000 people. More than 25 members of the Hall of Fame are scheduled to attend. Fans will again enter through the ballfield where the movie was filmed and walk through the corn toward the new stadium.
MLB staged games at a temporary facility next to the movie site in 2021 and 2022. The 2020 game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago White Sox was pre-empted by the pandemic. The White Sox played the New York Yankees in 2021 in a Fox telecast that was the most-watched regular-season game in 23 years, and the Chicago Cubs faced the Cincinnati Reds in 2022. Building a temporary ballpark from scratch each time proved unsustainable.
Dyersville, with a 2020 census population of 4,477, and the northeast Iowa business community then raised money for a permanent venue. With a state tourism grant drawn from federal pandemic relief money and contributions from local donors, construction began two years ago on the 3,000-seat ballpark, which was finished in time for showcase events this summer.
"We have some real plumbing that we don't need to bring in, which is a real positive," said Jeremiah Yolkut, MLB's senior vice president of global operations and events.
Keith Rahe, executive director of Dyersville Events, which owns and operates the complex, said the corn "looks awesome this year." A five-person crew has fertilized, transplanted and watered 67 acres for Netflix's worldwide streaming audience. "It's a big garden," Rahe said.
Phillies All-Star Kyle Schwarber said he had never visited. "I'm excited to see the corn," he said. Twins manager Derek Shelton has invited his father, echoing the film's father-and-son theme.
Rain is in the forecast. If the game is postponed, both teams would stay overnight and play Friday, with Thursday's tickets honored. MLB said it will "do everything possible to play the game as scheduled."
This article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI), in accordance with our editorial policy.
