Major League Baseball returns to Iowa on August 11 with second installment of MLB at Field of Dreams presented by GEICO

MLB at Field of Dreams returns on Thursday, August 11 when two of baseball’s most historic Clubs, the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds, play a regular season game on a baseball field built in a cornfield next to the iconic movie location in Dyersville, Iowa. This year’s game will include new ceremonies and features designed to capture the magic of the setting for fans of all ages and celebrate baseball’s ability to link generations, a central theme of the movie.

MLB at Field of Dreams presented by GEICO, which will air nationally on FOX, FOX Deportes, and the FOX Sports app at 7 p.m., and its surrounding events will include:

Pre-Game and In-Game Presentation

• MLB will utilize the movie, its themes, and clips as inspiration for pre-game elements and in-game presentation both for fans in the ballpark and watching on FOX.

Votto & Happ on Two-Way Mircrophone

• Reds six-time All-Star first baseman Joey Votto and 2022 Cubs All-Star outfielder Ian Happ will each join the broadcast in a live conversation from the field with FOX Sports broadcasters Joe Davis and John Smoltz and offer viewers a look inside the game.

Historic Uniforms

• The Cubs and Reds will don custom uniforms inspired by those worn by the Clubs in the early twentieth century.
• The Cubs uniforms will represent those worn during their NL Pennant-winning 1929 season, featuring a crème base, navy striping around the sleeves and down the center of the jersey, and their logo of the era – a navy bear cub holding a bat encircled by the letter “C” – worn on the left chest. During the game, the Cubs will wear a matching navy cap featuring the vintage cubbie bear logo.
• The Reds’ 1919-inspired uniforms are white with navy pinstripes and the Club’s classic logo embroidered on the left chest. The Reds’ cap is also white with navy pinstripes all around and a vintage red “C” in front.

Musical Performance

• After the MLB at Field of Dreams game concludes, country music superstar Walker Hayes takes the field for a special concert performance for fans attending the game in Iowa. The multi-Platinum selling artist has topped the Billboard, country radio, and country music streaming charts with songs like “Fancy Like” and “Y’all Life,” and in 2022, received his first Grammy Award nomination for Best Country Song. Hayes’ popularity was propelled by the TikTok dance he made to “Fancy Like” with his teenage daughter, which has over 35 million views and has connected him with audiences across the world.

Logos in the Corn

• Cubs and Reds retro logos have been cut into the corn located beyond the right field fence near the Field of Dreams Movie site to provide unique aerial views for FOX’s event coverage.

Youth Game: ‘A Dream Fulfilled’

• Chicago Cubs RBI and Cincinnati Reds RBI will face off on the original movie set field in front of a national television audience on FS1 on Wednesday, August 10th. The teams are made up of players ages 14 and under who participate in those Clubs’ RBI programs.
• The mission of Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) is to increase participation and interest in baseball and softball among underserved youth, promote greater inclusion of youth with diverse backgrounds into the mainstream of the game, increase the number of talented athletes prepared to play in college and professionally, encourage academic achievement and teach the value of teamwork.

Minor League Baseball Game

• In a new addition to the schedule, MiLB at Field of Dreams will feature the Cedar Rapids Kernels (Minnesota Twins High-A Affiliate) and the Quad Cities River Bandits (Kansas City Royals High-A Affiliate) playing on the same field as the MLB game on Tuesday, August 9th on MLB Network.
• The Minor League Clubs will use historical names and wear throwback uniforms during the game. The host River Bandits will become the Davenport Blue Sox (their name during the 1913-1916, 1929-1933 and 1934-1937 seasons), while the visiting Kernels will become the Cedar Rapids Bunnies (their name from 1904-1932).

MLB Network Coverage

• MLB Network will exclusively air the MiLB at Field of Dreams telecast featuring the Cedar Rapids Kernels against the Quad Cities River Bandits on Tuesday, August 9 at 6:00 p.m. ET. Greg Amsinger (play-by-play), Harold Reynolds (analyst) and Jon Morosi (reporter) will call the action from the MLB ballpark adjacent to the Field of Dreams movie site in Dyersville, Iowa.
• MLB Network’s Intentional Talk (4:00 p.m. ET) co-hosted by Stephen Nelson and Kevin Millar and MLB Tonight (5:00 p.m. ET) with Greg Amsinger and Harold Reynolds will air live from Iowa on Wednesday, August 10 and Thursday, August 11 leading up to the game. Reporter Jon Morosi will contribute across MLB Network’s studio programming from Iowa on August 9, 10 and 11, plus MLB Pipeline’s Sam Dykstra will join MLB Central on August 9 (10:15 a.m. ET) to preview the Kernels – River Bandits matchup.

MercyOne Dubuque Hospital Visit

• MLB will host a meet and greet with Commissioner Manfred and additional baseball personalities to honor the veteran employees of MercyOne and current veteran patients who are receiving care at the hospital. The visit will take place in the morning prior to the MLB game on August 11th.

USA Patriots Amputee Softball Team

• 17 members of the USA Patriots Amputee Softball Team have been invited as GEICO’s Seats for Service honorees at the game and will attend batting practice where they’ll meet with Cubs and Reds players.
• USA Patriots is a non-profit 501(c)(3) whose mission is to bring athletic and like-minded veteran amputees together to promote the benefits of inclusive sport and therapeutic recreational activities, to inspire and motivate communities of people, to support children with physical challenges, and to operate as a vehicle that offers national opportunities for continued service to our country.
• Net proceeds from the MLB at Field of Dreams auction will support the USA Patriots Kids Camp alumni program in the summer of 2023 and the full Kids Camp in 2024, both being held on the FOD field. The auction will be hosted at FODAuction.com several days after the event.

This 2022 edition of MLB at Field of Dreams presented by GEICO marks the second installment of the groundbreaking event following the dramatic contest played last August between the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees in the first-ever Major League game played in Iowa. The Dyersville ballpark is the result of local support in the state and the teamwork of three decorated sports event and experience specialist companies all appointed by Major League Baseball: BaAM Productions, Populous and BrightView.

Last summer’s thrilling walkoff win for the Chicago White Sox over the New York Yankees delivered nearly six million viewers and marked the most-watched single regular season baseball game on any network since 1998. With kids ages 12-17, it was the most-watched game in 10 years. In May, MLB at Field of Dreams was named the 2021 “Sports Event of the Year” by the Sports Business Journal.

Ballpark Information

Dimensions

• 335 feet down the lines; 380 feet to the alleys; and 400 feet to dead center.

Building the Ballpark Required

• The moving of 30,000 cubic yards of material.
• The installation of 4,000 tons of sand and 2,000 tons of pea gravel under 95,000 square feet of a Bluegrass blend that includes legend, blue note and bolt cultivars.

A Game in a Cornfield

· Iowa-based Musco Lighting is providing a first-of-its-kind LED system that will also spotlight much of the 159 acres of corn that surround the ballpark.

· The right field fence has a unique design that accentuates the corn through a fine mesh seven-foot high green chain link fence with offset vertical support posts – meaning the posts will actually be in the corn.

· The stalks that produce field corn will grow 10-12 feet high.

· A manual scoreboard will be in the corn just behind the right field fence.

Field of Dreams stars Kevin Costner, Ray Liotta, James Earl Jones, Amy Madigan, and Timothy Busfield. It was nominated for the Academy Award® for Best Picture in 1990 and was selected to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2017.The 1989 film tells the story of Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella, a husband and father who is tending to his cornfield when he hears a mysterious voice intone, “If you build it, he will come.” According to the American Film Institute (AFI), those words are the 39th top film quote of all-time.

MLB at Field of Dreams presented by GEICO is proudly sponsored and supported by Budweiser, Camping World, Capital One, Chevrolet, Corona, Dairy Queen, DEKALB Corn, Extreme Networks, Gatorade, GEICO, Hyperice, John Deere, Lysol, Mastercard, Mattress Firm, Mercy One, Mitel, Musco Lighting, T-Mobile, and Topps.

MLB at Field of Dreams follows other recent special events that have taken groundbreaking Major League games to non-traditional domestic locales, including the Fort Bragg Game in 2016, MLB In Omaha Presented by GEICO at the NCAA’s Men’s College World Series in 2019 and the annual Little League Classic Presented by GEICO in Williamsport (2017-19). The events at Fort Bragg and in Omaha were the first Major League games ever in North Carolina and Nebraska, respectively.

Field of Dreams is now available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital.