Yankees, White Sox to play 'Field of Dreams' game in Iowa in 2020

Friday, August 9, 2019
White Sox, Yankees to play on 'Field of Dreams' field in Iowa next season
The Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees will go this distance to Iowa next season to play on the field where "Field of Dreams" was filmed.

The Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees will go the distance to play in Iowa next season on the site where the movie "Field of Dreams" was filmed, the MLB announced Thursday.

A temporary 8,000 seat ballpark will be built in the corn on the Dyersville farm site where the 1989 movie was filmed. The White Sox and Yankees will then come to Iowa for the game on Aug. 13, 2020.

"As a sport that is proud of its history linking generations, Major League Baseball is excited to bring a regular season game to the site of Field of Dreams," Commissioner Rob Manfred said. "We look forward to celebrating the movie's enduring message of how baseball brings people together at this special cornfield in Iowa."

Construction on the temporary ballpark will start next Tuesday, MLB said. The design of the ballpark will pay homage to Comiskey Park, where the White Sox played from 1910-1990. The right field walls will include windows to show the cornfields around the ballpark and fans will walk along a pathway through the cornfield to get to the baseball diamond.

"Field of Dreams is an iconic, generational baseball story built upon a deep love of the game that transcends even the most impossible of circumstances," White Sox chairmanJerry Reinsdorf said in a statement. "The filmmakers tell a beautiful story that resonates to this day. It is an incredible honor for the White Sox franchise to be the home team against the Yankees in a special setting that will capture everyone's imagination just like the movie does. It seems very fitting that 30 years after the film's debut, MLB will build a ballfield in an Iowa cornfield where we will come to play a game so that baseball fans can create their own memories to be cherished for decades."

A video tweeted by MLB shows Yankees star Aaron Judge asking Ray Kinsella, Kevin Costner's character in the 1989 movie, if he was in heaven. Costner replies with one of the movie's iconic lines - "No, it's Iowa" - and Judge nods before trotting back into the corn beyond the outfield.

The one-off game in Iowa is part of the sport's recent trend of hosting games outside of traditional ballparks and cities, such as the Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and a matchup between Detroit and Kansas City in Omaha in June ahead of the College World Series.

The Yankees also took part in a two-game series in London against the rival Red Sox earlier this season.

The White Sox will be the home team for the game, which will be played on a Thursday and air nationally on Fox. The clubs will then have Friday off before resuming their series in Chicago.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.