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DYERSVILLE, Iowa — Chicago Cubs third baseman Patrick Wisdom searched for the right words.
“Wow,” Wisdom exclaimed, his eyes shifting to the dirt field where some fans were catching. “This is really unbelievable.”
Every Chicago Cubs player and staffer found a moment on Thursday to appreciate the unique Field of Dreams environment.
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After the Cubs snapped a team photo in front of the manual scoreboard in right field, Willson Contreras stopped at the edge of the sand behind first base and held up his camera phone and panned it across the field. Kervin Castro took on fellow pitcher Anderson Espinoza as he walked the movie classic from the corn stalks onto the field grass from “Field of Dreams.” A grinning Rowan Wick climbed a green tractor in front of the famous white farmhouse and was dripping with the view. Batting coach Greg Brown, assistant batting coach Johnny Washington, and coach Juan Cabreja gathered for a photo on the ranch porch swing.
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Marcus Stroman roamed, camera in hand, between the margins, through the cornfields and the film set. He took a photo with his cardboard cutout dipped in the corn along the gravel path from the margin to the original field. His image has alternated between the fields, among others, including cutouts from Contreras, Wisdom, Ian Happ, Nico Hoerner, Seiya Suzuki, Christopher Morel – and the recently elected Frank Schwindel.
At one point during the pregame tour of the Cubs complex, Stroman snapped a photo of Franmil Reyes posing with a Field of Dreams sign in front of the corn stalks.
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“I just try to take as many pictures as possible, just be there,” Stroman said. “I like taking pictures, so I just try to capture moments. Some decent candids with my boys. Of course you have the aesthetic of the field, the whole atmosphere, and you try to capture the atmosphere of where I am through my lenses, which is different from anyone else’s.”
The dismal records of the Cubs and Cincinnati Reds — the Cubs won 4-2 behind Drew Smyly’s nine strikeouts and a three-run first inning — didn’t detract from what this big game meant for both teams. Rocking throwback cream uniforms, leaving several players hoping to be included in future seasons, the Cubs basked in playing in front of a sold-out crowd of 7,823 fans.
“We’re so used to playing in these huge stadiums and having that little bit more of a home feeling, whether it was at school or one of those times when you can play in front of a more intimate crowd,” Happ said. You get to a place like this, and it really takes you back to some of those rides you had through cornfields playing baseball with your family, and that’s what it’s all about.”
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It was a rare opportunity for baseball fans in Iowa to watch a local major league game in person or on TV, especially for fans of the Cubs’ Triple-A Iowa branch in Des Moines. Major League Baseball’s blackout restrictions severely restrict which teams fans in the state can watch broadcast TV.
“We have to keep making sure we get baseball to every corner of this country that wants to look at it and grow the game that way,” Happ said.
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The game marked the Cubs’ third major MLB event, competing in the Little League Classic in 2019 and a two-game series in London next year. This is the second Field of Dreams game after the White Sox and New York Yankees played in the inaugural event in August last year, resulting in a walk-off win for the Sox.
For a second season in a row out of the playoff battle, these kinds of games give the less experienced Cubs players a taste of the attention and hoopla around big games. Morel, 23, didn’t debut until May 17, but he has quickly become one of the young, exciting players on the North Side with the chance to show his game on the national stage. After seeing his crop in the cornfield, Morel said it was because of the support of Cubs fans.
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“When I got here, the last thing I expected my cutout to be was to be there, especially with the short time I have here with the team and in the big leagues,” said Morel. “But I’m just thankful to God and I’m thankful to the team for giving me a chance.”
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Stroman would like to see future MLB showcase events based on Negro Leagues culture.
“Creating an atmosphere within an inner-city community that can almost resemble Negro Leagues,” Stroman said. “I think there are a lot of ways that could go with it, to be honest, but that’s one corner I’d like to see them go. …Because we’re African American in the big leagues, there’s less and less population of us in the big leagues, so I think it’s important to spread light and show the inner-city youngsters some excitement for them and give them role models to look up to that they normally don’t have on a day to day basis.”
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