About The Field of Dreams Game
Watching The Field of Dreams Game is a nice reminder that baseball does not belong to Major League Baseball. It's something of an obvious tautology, but it’s a true one — and even though the corporate spotlight of Major League Baseball hovers brightly over the idea of a game based on a movie, the idea of this particular game is shining on something true: baseball does not belong to Major League Baseball. It is part of the landscape. It’s something casual. It’s Lawrence Ferlinghetti reciting a poem about the San Francisco Giants.
But of course the monotone stentorian voice of Joe Buck and the relentless sameness of how baseball is shown on television will create a dissonant effect when corporate America gives us a taste of what baseball actually is. Of course a game like this makes us wonder about why Rob Manfred was so keen to go after Minor League Baseball over the past few years, because a setting like this — a cornfield in Iowa — is so clearly Minor League Baseball.
Because baseball — to paraphrase James Joyce — is a shout in the street. It’s Tim Anderson sending everyone home. It’s the territorio libre.
Or — at least — it ought to be.