THEY built it and the big league teams are coming.
The Chicago White Sox hold court against the New York Yankees on Thursday night playing a few paces away from the original magical Iowa cornfield ballpark that was the main set for the 1989 film Field of Dreams.
Eight thousand fans can take in the splendor of the matchup between the two ball clubs on Thursday in Dyersville, Iowa – after Major League Baseball constructed the temporary stadium.
The field is plotted next to the original diamond and separated by a chain-link fence, windows and a throwback wooden scoreboard – all gazing at 159 acres of cornfields.
The crops are in keeping with the film’s storyline where Shoeless Joe Jackson and his fellow banned 1919 White Sox (Black Sox) greats played ball again on farmer Ray Kinsella’s dream park.
COMISKEY-ESQUE PARK
The Field of Dreams Game field and the themed game will be played in the town of Dyersville, Iowa which is also home to the National Farm Toy Museum. The capacity holds nearly double its 4,130 residents.
It was designed to look and feel similar to the White Sox own Comiskey Park, according to Sporting News.
There is also a maze of corn that links the new stadium to the original film field.
Major League Baseball opted to create a new field because the original one didn’t meet the big league’s criteria.
So the field’s basepaths meet league regulation as to the mound-to-plate distances.
The distance to the outfield is 300 feet to left, 350 feet to center and 315 feet to right which mirrors Boston’s Fenway Park, the oldest stadium in baseball.
The original field has been a free pitstop for tourists.
They can walk out on the field, tour of the Lansing Family Farm House that would become the silver screen legendary home to the Kinsellas.
The film, adapted from W.P. Kinsella’s 1982 novel “Shoeless Joe” is famous for the whispering phrase by a voice heard only by Ray Kinsella: “If you build it, he will come.
“I watched the movie when it came out in 1989, and I think everybody dreams of their own Field of Dreams,” said Murray Cook, who serves as MLB’s consultant in charge of the ballpark’s construction.
“To have the honor of building something in the middle of a cornfield, at the Field of Dreams movie site, it’s hard to compare this to anything else.
“It’s magical.
It’s goosebumps every day. Here we are, doing the same thing as Ray Kinsella, all these years later.”
‘PERFECT, EVERY BIT OF IT’
Kevin Costner, who played the lead role of farmer Ray Kinsella, paid a visit to the park.
As he stepped out to the field he exclaimed, “Wow!”
He then headed to home plate and again stopped and gazed around.
“Perfect,” he said. “Every bit of it.
“This is perfect.”
He was later recorded playing catch in the new park’s left field.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone was over the moon about the fabled field getting a rebirth.
“I think we all have a nostalgic view of 'Field of Dreams,'” Boone told MLB.com.
“These things in the course of a long season have all been great ideas and winners in my mind for Major League Baseball.
“It’s something that I think our entire group is really looking forward to being a part of.”
HOT TICKET
With the limited seats available, prices to be able to catch the game in person have skyrocketed.
As of Thursday, a seat to the game on TickPick started at $1,933.19.
The most expensive seat cost $2040.
Also, not everybody can come.
Only those who have an Iowa ZIP code are permitted to purchase tickets, MLB.com confirmed.
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