Is this Heaven? The Field of Dreams game

[MFS62]

Frayed Knot wrote: 2R walk-off HR by Tim Anderson w/one out wins it for the Sox !!!!!!!!! About 20 corn rows deep

A corny ending, for sure.

Later

[seawolf17]

[Edgy MD]

Oh, I've got other quibbles.



A major theme of the film was the redemption of the reputation of Joe Jackson. MLB, in presenting this game, appropriates the warm feelies generated by that cinematic redemption while still perpetuating the damnation of the same in Jackson's real-world ban.



Putting a fence in between the cornfield and the baseball field undermines the pastoral theme of baseball on the prairie with it's perpetual outfield stretching into eternity, actually becoming a gateway between eternity and the temporal world the film. Beyond the warning track should have led right into the field, and any hits out there should have remained in play, giving us the joy of outfielders chasing deep drives through the stalks and invisibly launching blind throws out of corn while mesomorphs try to circle the bases. That would be some good baseball!



The leftfielders wore shoes.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Edgy MD wrote: Oh, I've got other quibbles. A major theme of the film was the redemption of the reputation of Joe Jackson. MLB, in presenting this game, appropriates the warm feelies generated by that cinematic redemption while still perpetuating the damnation of the same in Jackson's real-world ban.

and does so behind sports-book advertisers like Draft King

[G-Fafif]

Remarkable setting. Spectacular (not to mention desired) conclusion. Imperfect but ultimately moving movie served as inspiration for baseball to do something out of the ordinary that came off as extraordinary. Tim Anderson was transcendent. It was the most brilliant baseball ending of the day, and that's taking into account Pete Alonso's exploits hours earlier.



Here's to a little joy on a Thursday night.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I'd agree with that take too

[kcmets]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: and does so behind sports-book advertisers like Draft King

Huzzah!

[Edgy MD]

=G-Fafif post_id=74324 time=1628861993 user_id=55]
Remarkable setting. Spectacular (not to mention desired) conclusion. Imperfect but ultimately moving movie served as inspiration for baseball to do something out of the ordinary that came off as extraordinary. Tim Anderson was transcendent. It was the most brilliant baseball ending of the day, and that's taking into account Pete Alonso's exploits hours earlier.



Here's to a little joy on a Thursday night.

[Willets Point]

Edgy MD wrote: A major theme of the film was the redemption of the reputation of Joe Jackson. MLB, in presenting this game, appropriates the warm feelies generated by that cinematic redemption while still perpetuating the damnation of the same in Jackson's real-world ban.

I think it's too late for Shoeless Joe to make a comeback, although I'd support the Mets picking him up for outfield depth.

[MFS62]

Willets Point wrote: I think it's too late for Shoeless Joe to make a comeback, although I'd support the Mets picking him up for outfield depth.

I'd prefer a righty hitter.

Later

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Redemption is certainly a theme, but not just for Joe and the Kinsellas.



One of my favorite parts of the movie was when Archie Graham first sees the field, is excited by seeing the players and calls out three players by name: Smoky Joe Wood, Mel Ott, and Gil Hodges.



One player who had his career -- and life -- change dramatically because of a slip on wet grass and two who were lost far, far too young. Any day Gil is recalled with such reverence is a good day in my book.



I also love that the obit they read in the Chisholm newspaper office is Graham's actual obit. They took some artistic license with his playing -- he played in the minors a bit before hanging them up -- and fudged the year of his death, but the details in the obit are accurate.

"And there were times when children could not afford eyeglasses or milk or clothing. Yet no child was ever denied these essentials because in the background there was always Dr. Graham. Without any fanfare or publicity, the glasses or the milk or the ticket to the ballgame found their way into the child's pocket."

[bmfc1]

[kcmets]

Edgy MD wrote: Man, then. Don't I look like the stinker.

That's ok, I was (am) a bit of a wet blanket too.

[Fman99]

Joe Buck still sucks a butt, even in Iowa.

[Edgy MD]

https://twitter.com/djshort/status/1426005212955910145

I demand Shea Stadium be reconstructed for an Odd Couple game.

[Willets Point]

We could have a week of games at cinematic Shea.

Men in Black

Bang the Drum Slowly

Two Weeks Notice

Deadly Illusion

The Odd Couple

Small Time Crooks

Chop Shop

The Wiz

[MFS62]

While we were enjoying the game, the folks in Iowa couldn't.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/baseball/2021/08/12/mlb-tv-blackouts-commissioner-rob-manfred-field-of-dreams-game-top-priority-major-league-baseball/8111648002/https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/baseball/2021/08/12/mlb-tv-blackouts-commissioner-rob-manfred-field-of-dreams-game-top-priority-major-league-baseball/8111648002/



Local blackouts. Echhhh!



Later

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

My wife noted that when Anderson's blast sailed into the corn, Yankee-loving Verducci's tears must have fallen like soft rain.

[dinosaur jesus]

A friend of my in-laws is from Chisholm and remembers Doc Graham. The idea that someone could become a mythical figure just because he happened to appear in one major league box score must seem pretty strange to anyone who actually knew the man.

[Frayed Knot]

While we were enjoying the game, the folks in Iowa couldn't. https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/baseball/2021/08/12/mlb-tv-blackouts-commissioner-rob-manfred-field-of-dreams-game-top-priority-major-league-baseball/8111648002/https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/baseball/2021/08/12/mlb-tv-blackouts-commissioner-rob-manfred-field-of-dreams-game-top-priority-major-league-baseball/8111648002/ Local blackouts. Echhhh!

This seems crazy but I guess ML rules just treated it as if any other games and the ChiSox broadcast didn't want to get stepped on by the National network.



While traveling through Iowa last week, the division seemed to be mostly a Cubs/Cards split. You'd see bars with a schedule for each posted side-by-side on the wall

but very little if any ChiSox (even though, being on Chicago's south side, they're technically a wee bit closer). That Des Moines has been the longtime Cubs' AAA affiliate

probably has a lot to do with that and I suppose in western Iowa folks might tend more towards the Royals. Saw a lot more KC Chiefs stuff than Bears though that could

be more a case of bandwagon jumping than anything else.

The biggest split by far was Iowa vs Iowa St. A banner hanging from the front porch with a 'DIVIDED HOME' emblem (half Hawkeyes/half Cyclones) was a common sight.

[kcmets]

Willets Point wrote: We could have a week of games at cinematic Shea. Men in Black Bang the Drum Slowly Two Weeks Notice Deadly Illusion The Odd Couple Small Time Crooks Chop Shop The Wiz

We liked the movie Frequency here.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

The most-watched regular season game in 16 years!

[kcmets]

Didn't see a pitch and when coverage came on sports news I quickly

changed the channel.

[G-Fafif]

Wining teams's radio call, which is to say not the MFYs.

[G-Fafif]

[Lefty Specialist]

If everything breaks right for us, me and the Missus are going to do a big roadtrip next year, and we are planning to rent the Field of Dreams house for a night.



I'll be Kevin Costner and she'll be Amy Madigan. It's stupidly expensive, but we decided to go the distance. To sit on the porch swing alone will be worth it.



I went there in 1992 before it had completely blown up as a big deal. It was July and I have a picture of me standing on the edge of the corn somewhere.

[Edgy MD]

Whoah.

[Frayed Knot]

Instagram

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OK, that's not FoD/Dyersville corn, it's merely a random cornfield on the side of the road we stopped at one morning because, well because pictures like that are mandatory when you're in Iowa.



We wound up being closer to Dyersville than I realized but, with the game less than two weeks away and probably a ton of late prep work going on, they weren't about to route 15,000 idiot cyclists into the town.