Is it 'Have a catch' or 'Play catch'? Hall of Famers have strong feelings

It’s the age-old question about our national pastime:

Is it “have a catch” or “play catch”?

In the classic 1989 film “Field of Dreams,” the inspiration for Thursday night’s third edition of the MLB at Field of Dreams Game presented by John Deere, it’s the former when the main character, played by Kevin Costner, asks his dad the question.

But what do some baseball Hall of Famers think? There were plenty on hand at the famed movie site where the contest between the Phillies and Twins was held in Dyersville, Iowa.

So we asked them.

“Hey, Pops,” said Hall of Fame right-hander Bert Blyleven when recounting how he asked his father. “You wanna play catch?”

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That was a popular answer among the baseball royalty assembled amid the cornfields.

“For me, it has to be, ‘Let's go play catch,’” said the “Hawk,” Andre Dawson.

"The Crime Dog," Fred McGriff, had strong feelings about it.

“It’s ‘Hey, do you wanna go play catch;’ it’s not, ‘Have a catch,’” he said incredulously. “No. It’s, ‘Do you wanna go play catch.’”

The great CC Sabathia acknowledged that he’s heard “Have a catch,” particularly when he arrived in Iowa for the Field of Dreams Game. But he agreed with the consensus among his Cooperstown brethren.

“I say ‘play catch,’” Sabathia said. “ … I’ve heard a lot of people saying, ‘I wanna have a catch with my dad,’ but I ‘wanna play catch with my dad.’”

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And Hall of Fame closer Lee Smith shut the door on the debate.

“Let’s go play catch,” he said with a big smile.