I know what you might be thinking:

Doug, this is supposed to be Around the World in 80 Sporting Events. How does the location of a film rise to the level of an event. Or even an iconic venue?

It’s a fair question and one that I wrestled with more than a little bit when building out the 80-ish events/venues. But, in the end it’s my project, my list, right?

That said, my decision seemed vindicated after recently visiting the Dyersville, IA, farm that served as a primary filming location for the 1989 baseball movie, “Field of Dreams.” While spending about an hour on site, my dad and I encountered folks from all corners of the United States, including a couple from southern California that had a family wedding in the Kansas City area and the husband was insistent that this diversion north must occur.

Um, that’s a 6-hour detour, my friend!

He was resolute, however and neither he nor his wife seemed the least bit put out by driving hours through rural America to wander around a baseball field for an hour or so.

But that seems to be the draw of this place. Karin Kinsella and Terence Mann were both spot on with their assessments of Ray Kinsella‘s absurd decision to plow under half his crop and build a baseball field in the middle of nowhere.

People will – and do– come. (Seriously, check out the “Field of Dreams” live web cam here. If sun’s up in Iowa and there’s no rain, you’re bound to see folks on the field.)

There is no charge to visit the site. It’s all a freewill donation and, yes, I handed over $20 without giving it a thought, for it’s money I had and moments I sought.

Those moments were to spend time with my father at one of the more special places for fathers and sons in filmography history and if the weather permitted and we could sneak in a catch, well, all the better.

Without spoiling too much, Ray’s character (played by Kevin Costner) begins hearing a voice and having a vision of building a baseball field on his family farm. Ultimately, the voice’s messages of “if you build it, he will come,” “ease his pain,” and “go the distance” are all designed to reconnect Ray with his long-deceased father whom he had a fractured relationship.

When the inevitable occurs as the sun sets over the Iowa cornfields and Ray asks his dad if he wants to have a catch, well, pass the tissues for most fellas I know who’ve watched the film … or read the book “Shoeless Joe” by W.P. Kinsella.

Admittedly, my dad is not as fluent in “Field of Dreams” as I am, but he had a pair of homework assignments prior to this stop on the Around the World in 80 Sporting Events project: Refamiliarize himself with the movie and get his arm in good enough shape to toss the horsehide around for a few minutes.

To me, this is one of those films that, if I see its airing on the on-screen guide, I’m stopping by and staying for a while (probably for the duration).

^{Clockwise from upper left, the author visited with his family (son Jake, wife Carol, and daughter Helena) in 2018; the view of the field from the farmhouse; behind the backstop; Terence Mann’s monologue about baseball; the author and his father, Jerry, enjoying a catch in rightfield; the view from the pitcher’s mound; the view from homeplate; the corn was still working on its height during our visit; the welcome sign; construction is ongoing for a more permanent professional field.}

It was a steamy mid-June Tuesday on the day of our visit and while my family and I had stopped by seven years earlier, I was excited to return and see what’s changed and, more importantly perhaps, what’s stayed the same from 1988 when principle shooting occurred. And, yes, I had the same feeling turning off the road onto the long gravel driveway leading to the farm that most viewers probably have when they see the twinkling lights on that aerial shot at the films end.

My son’s friend, when they were younger, used to call that feeling “getting the goosies.”

• The house with the white picket fence … check!
• The red barns … check!
• The ballfield with its ramshackle bleachers and light posts … check!
• The corn field … check!

Aside from the corn approaching just knee high and not the fully grown stalks the ghost players disappear into on film, it was as most would remember it.

There were differences from when I first visited: The smaller of the two barns is now a merchandise shop filled with the Baseballism product line; there is now a restaurant (The Dugout) in part of the larger barn, a seasonal ice cream stand between the two barns, and a concession stand counter (The Stretch) and pavilion with picnic tables down the leftfield line. There is still the opportunity to tour the farmhouse ($20 per adult, of course;-) but we opted against it as I’d completed it during my previous visit. New, however, is the ability to spend the night in the house. For a mere $600 (weeknights) you’re able to rent a room for the night (find the details here).

In the distance, well beyond the lights in left field, construction continued on what is to become a more permanent field where Major League Baseball hosted a pair of games during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The goal, per Dyersville Events Inc. President and CEO Keith Rahe which purchased the land from Go the Distance Baseball in September 2024 for $27 million, “is that professional baseball is back there. Honestly because we know how important and how significant those games were.”

That aside it was, as Ray Kinsella says during film, “perfect.”

My father and I did enjoy a catch and our newfound friends from southern California even recorded our poor form for posterity. This means I’ve now had a catch with my father and my son (2018) at the “Field of Dreams” diamond. (I’m not saying I want to be viewed rather than seen anytime soon, but this gives me comfort in having accomplished this.)

After our time doing what fathers and sons have done for generations in this country, we did something else that fathers and sons do. We visited the ice cream stand, purchased a couple dishes, and made our way to the shaded comfort of the picnic tables where we enjoyed a treat on a hot summer day while the voices of others playing catch and soaking in the sights of this slice of Americana echoed in the distance.