Tonight, Thursday, August 12th, 2021, a Major League Baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees was played in Iowa, for the first time in history. MLB built a baseball stadium next to the Field of Dream stadium, which was originally built for the movie (best baseball movie of all-time in my opinion) which was filmed in 1989. The White Sox won it in the bottom of the 9th with a two run homer - what a night!
"People will come, Ray. They’ll come to Iowa for reasons they can’t even fathom. They’ll turn into your driveway, not knowing for sure why they’re doing it. They’ll arrive at your door, as innocent as children, longing for the past. “Of course, we won’t mind if you look around,” you’ll say, “It’s only twenty dollars per person.” And they’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it, for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they’ll walk off to the bleachers and sit in their short sleeves on a perfect afternoon. And find they have reserved seats somewhere along the baselines where they sat when they were children. And cheer their heroes. And they’ll watch the game, and it’ll be as they’d dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick, they’ll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come, Ray. The one constant through all the years Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again. Oh people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come."
And on a personal note, just hearing the first few notes of the perfect soundtrack from the movie causes me to tear up immediately. Time moves differently in the game of baseball, where stats originate from its start in the 1800's, and there is a direct correlation between that kind of timeless moments and the relationships that we covet the most. It is sacred, almost spiritual in its impact. This film is in my opinion one of the most perfect movies ever made. People do come to this location, and some day I hope to walk on that field, carrying my glove and baseball, and play catch in the twilight of that Iowa cornfield.
People come to that field, over thirty years after the movie was made, and I believe there will be a steady caravan of people until Jesus returns, longing for the emotional connection they felt when they watched the movie.
