Field of Dreams

July 9, 1997 --  One of the places we visited on my western trip was the Field of Dreams movie site in Dyersville, Iowa. I  hadn't planned on visiting it, but I saw signs directing me towards it.

Universal Studios built a baseball diamond for the movie. When filming was complete, they left the baseball diamond behind. When I visited in 1997, the site wasn't very commercialized. The simple tourist attraction was run by the two owners of the land where the diamond was built. Years later, it was sold to developers and  has since become a big tourist attraction. 

Field of Dreams (1989) stars Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones (RIP), and Ray Liotta (RIP). It tells the story of a farmer (Ray Kinsella) who turns his cornfield into a baseball diamond: "If you build it they will come."  The field attracts ghosts of baseball legends, including Shoeless Joe Jackson and the scandalous Chicago Black Sox. One of the players is eventually revealed to be Ray's estranged father (as a young man). They reconcile. 

I bought a souvenir baseball and poster.

If you built it, they will come.

My other favorite line from the movie is when Ray is asked "Is this heaven," and he replies, "no, it's Iowa." I love baseball. Field of Dreams is my favorite baseball movie. It is a classic. It was selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.