Field of Dreams Game
Wearing 1939 throwback uniforms, the Phillies will be playing in Major League Baseball’s third “Field of Dreams Game” on Thursday, Aug. 13. The Minnesota Twins will be the home team for the game in Dyersville, Iowa.
The game, the first since 2022, will be played at a ballpark constructed adjacent to the field used to film the 1989 movie. The game will air on Netflix. The ballpark holds about 7,800 fans, and the big league players usually enter the game by walking through the cornfield, just as the White Sox players did in the film.
The Phillies’ jerseys are gray with a red and navy “Phillies” script across the chest. Their hats are navy with a bold red “P” on the front. The sleeve will feature the 1939 Baseball Centennial patch that all teams wore that season. The Twins' special uniforms draw direct inspiration from their 1961 inaugural season home look.
The 1939 season was celebrated as the 100th anniversary of baseball's invention. This was based on the 1908 Mills Commission report, which credited Civil War General Abner Doubleday with inventing the game in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839. Though modern historians have long since debunked the "Doubleday myth" (acknowledging baseball evolved over time from earlier bat-and-ball games like rounders), the 1839-1939 Centennial provided the perfect opportunity to unite and celebrate America’s pastime nationwide.
1939 Fun Facts
The centerpiece of the entire Centennial celebration took place on June 12, 1939, with the formal dedication and opening of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.
For the first time every MLB team (and Minor League teams) wore a single uniform patch to honor a nationwide milestone.
The U.S. Post Office issued a 3-cent commemorative "Baseball Centennial" stamp on June 12, 1939, depicting a sandlot game. First Day Covers were postmarked in Cooperstown.
On May 2, Lou Gehrig voluntarily took himself out of the lineup after 2,130 consecutive games played due to the onset of ALS. Two months later, on July 4, he delivered his legendary "Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth" speech at Yankee Stadium.
On August 26, the first Major League Baseball game was broadcast on television (a doubleheader between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds at Ebbets Field) on station W2XBS.
Shibe Park was the Phillies' home, having moved there on July 4, 1938. Not-so-fun fact, the Phillies finished in last place with a 45-106 record. It was their second of five straight seasons of over 100 losses.