‘Field Of Dreams’ Game Features Drama, Nostalgia, And Kevin Costner In A Starring Role

Bruce Haring
·2 min read
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They played the first major league baseball game tonight in Iowa, won by the Chicago White Sox in dramatic fashion, 9-8, on a walk-off home run.

There were eight home runs in the game, all of them landing in the corn fields surrounding the 8,000-seat, special-purpose stadium built for the game near the original movie set. Tonight’s game featured a wild and wooly ninth inning, in which the Yankees staged a dramatic comeback from four runs down, only to fall in the next inning when the home team White Sox matched them and surged back.

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While baseball was the platform, something deeper was going on. It wasn’t heaven, it was Iowa, as they said in the film. But the original film was more about the connections baseball builds in families, particularly between fathers and sons, and Costner was a key to the emotional and evocative feeling connecting all in attendance and watching on TV. For them, this night was about more than a baseball game.

At a pre-game press conference, Costner admitted he still felt an emotional connection with the Field of Dreams film 32 years after its debut.

“I’m moved by it. I am,” he said “Somewhere along the line, if you have some unfinished business, that movie starts to take over.”

Costner recalled the impact of the ending to the film, which featured him asking his father to have a game of catch.

The impact of that moment came to him when he returned to the Dyersville, Iowa field for the 25th anniversary of Field of Dreams. He brought his two sons with him.

“I was throwing grounders to them, when I looked over and said to myself ‘There’s something going on,'” Costner said. “There was a line (of people), and suddenly something came over me.

“I whispered to the boys that there’s a bunch of men standing up over there that want to play catch with me,” Costner said. “A lot of the attention comes to me, and it happens all the time. My boys understand that.”

Costner started the night of nostalgia by walking out of the cornfields surrounding the stadium outfield. When he reached halfway in his reflective walk, he turned and watched as the Yankees and White Sox walked onto the field to join him, evoking the moment in the film when the player of the past joined in.

Costner later sat down with Fox broadcasters to talk about his feelings on the evening.

Watch the dramatic moments above and below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug4bsd4LqqM?version=3&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://deadline.com&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent&w=640&h=360]

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