Wade Boggs invests in Iowa's 'Field of Dreams'

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Hall of Famer Wade Boggs wants to help turn the "Field of Dreams" in eastern Iowa into a mecca for youth baseball.

Boggs announced Thursday that he is investing in a new project at the site of the "Field of Dreams" movie baseball field in Dyersville, Iowa.

Boggs, a former third baseman for the Red Sox and the Yankees and a Hall of Fame inductee in 2005, is lending money and his name to the project. The movie site is part of a larger $38 million complex of 24 baseball and softball diamonds on 193 acres to be called The All-Star Ballpark Heaven.

Boggs, who wouldn't divulge how much he's investing, said he envisions the site as a destination for travel ball and summer all-star teams throughout the Midwest.

"It gives a viable option to parents...so they don't have to jump on a plane or what have you to go to the East Coast just to have their sons compete," Boggs said. "With this facility, with as many fields as we're going to provide, it gives kids in the Midwest and far West and an opportunity to have the same type of competition, but not travel as far."

It's under development by Denise and Mike Stillman, a suburban Chicago couple who formed a company, Go the Distance Baseball, to buy the movie site and surrounding land.

Boggs compared his vision for the site as similar to that of the Cooperstown, N.Y., area. The upstate New York town that is home to the Baseball Hall of Fame also has variety of diamonds for youth teams that travel from around the country to learn about the game's history and play some ball.

Boggs said plans are to have at least part of the new facility be indoors in an effort to close the gap between youngsters in cold weather states and their counterparts in California, Texas and Florida.

"The kids can go ahead and practice and work out when the leaves start to fall and the snow starts to pile up," Boggs said. "That way they're not a step behind when the spring comes."