Explaining MLB Field of Dreams: More Than a Game, More Than a Movie

This year on August 11, 2022 the Chicago Cubs will take on the Cincinnati Reds at the hallowed(?) Field of Dreams near Dyersville Iowa. This will be the second time the MLB hosts a Field of Dreams game.

History of the MLB Field of Dreams Game

Originally, the first game of its kind was to be played in 2020 between the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees. However, as we all know, then Covid happened and sent every major sports organization into a lockdown. The actual first game was played in 2021 between the same teams.

How the game would be received was a relative unknown to the MLB. However, after the game received the highest regular season ratings for a game in 16 years, the MLB announced it would be bringing the game back in 2022. Clearly, the game was popular. Why was it so popular, though? What resonated so much with fans to induce such a massive turnout for a relatively meaningless regular season game in the cornfields of Iowa?

Field of Dreams (Movie)

The idea for the MLB game was spawned from the popular movie, Field of Dreams. It follows a man fighting with his own life worries and struggling with the fact that he has not accomplished everything he envisioned in his life. Hearing voices and visions of baseball players, he sets out to build a baseball field in the middle of his farm cornfields. The movie concludes with the field having been built and the man making peace with his struggles.

The movie was a complete success, tugging at the heart strings of everyone while portraying the romance of Baseball. Today, it is still a massive success as it has evolved into a pop culture icon. However, again I ask, why? Let’s talk about it.

The Field of Dreams

First, we have to cover the ACTUAL Field of Dreams. One of the reasons its a popular MLB game is its a unique concept, I mean just look at it!

It really takes the “unique batters eye” in some ballparks to the next level. The players enter from within the corn, the field is freshly made up, it really is a site to behold.

On top of that, it brings the MLB market to Iowa where there isn’t a huge MLB presence. Give a baseball hungry fanbase a game, and they will come.

The Message

Most important to the popularity of the Field of Dreams game, in my opinion, is the message behind the movie. Throughout the entirety of the movie we see the theme of bad. A farm in debt, a crazy plan to build a baseball field for money, regrets of the past, etc.

This is none too far off from the world climate we live in today. The first MLB Field of Dreams game was played after a pandemic shut down the entire world as we know it. People are struggling for enough money to survive, let alone have basic comforts. There is division everywhere you look in some form or another.

Over the course of the movie we start to see the good come to light. The baseball field is a success, the bank won’t foreclose, and, most importantly, together everyone was able to see the bad times through to the good. This is quite the parallel to todays world and provides a beacon of hope for the many people in the world going through struggles of their own.

The Resonance

This is where the Field of Dreams popularity comes from. Ray Kinsella was a regular man dealing with struggles like the rest of us. Debt, stress, and the fear of achieving nothing in life. He’s not a superstar athlete with millions of dollars and their own issues we can’t possibly imagine. He’s not an action hero that stumbles into a job that will pay him $1,000,000 and get his life back on track. He is a regular Joe with regular problems that all of us can identify with.

Eventually, after a long internal struggle and road trip, he builds his field of dreams and ends up finding his solace in baseball and the field he built. As said in the movie:

“The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again. Oh, people will come, Ray.”

In a world full of misery and uncertainty, there are still plenty of good things. Maybe your life is not where you want it to be. You have regrets, things you would do different, you think about what you would do if you could go back in time remembering what you know now. This movie reminds us that no matter the regrets of the past, no matter the troubles of the present, together we chug on and look to the good that can be again.

This message is not only relatable, but uniting. The MLB Field of Dreams game may be a big moneymaker for the MLB and its affiliated companies, but that’s not the reason the fans turn out and tune in in droves. It’s because of the message, “together”.

Together, we can get through an unprecedented pandemic. Together, we can get through the rough days so we can smile during the good. Together, we can make the difference in our lives that we so desperately crave. Tonight, millions of us will watch the MLB Field of Dreams game and know one thing. Together, we chug on and look to the good that can be again.

To quote another popular baseball movie, “How can you not be romantic about baseball?”