OT: MLB Coming to Dyerville

Motigerhawk

Motigerhawk

Well-Known Member
Yankees/White Sox have a games scheduled for August 13th in Dyserville. They are building an 8000 seat stadium to play the game.
ESPN will telecast the game.

This is the first MLB game ever to played in Iowa. Pretty exciting stuff.
 
Motigerhawk said:
Yankees/White Sox have a games scheduled for August 13th in Dyserville. They are building an 8000 seat stadium to play the game.
ESPN will telecast the game.

This is the first MLB game ever to played in Iowa. Pretty exciting stuff.
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Might want to mention that it's in 2020 :)
 
I briefly heard them talking about this on the Dan Patrick Show this morning. I didn't get much info out of it, but a few things crossed my mind. It'd be a pretty cool event, but (1) not sure what I think of it being an MLB venue and what they'd have to do to make the field playable and (2) wonder what ticket costs for something like that would be?
 
Tickets for that thing will cost $50,000 a piece on the secondary unless they use a non-transferable lottery.. Rich Yankee fans will easily snatch 'em up for a once-in-a-lifetime event. Season tickets are $6-8,000 a piece face value lower deck, on up to hundreds of thousands behind the plate at Yankee stadium. If they do a lottery none of us have a chance.
 
kicker22 said:
I briefly heard them talking about this on the Dan Patrick Show this morning. I didn't get much info out of it, but a few things crossed my mind. It'd be a pretty cool event, but (1) not sure what I think of it being an MLB venue and what they'd have to do to make the field playable and (2) wonder what ticket costs for something like that would be?
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They will have to build a completely new facility next to it. No major league team in their right mind would play in a facility where the sun sets directly into the batters' eyes. They are also going to have to improve the access road coming in.

A group of investors, led by former major league player Wade Boggs, has proposed several ideas for the property. For the past several years they have held a charity event, usually on Labor Day weekend, where numerous former big Leaguers have shown up, including hall of famers like Carlton Fisk, Reggie Jackson, Fergie Jenkins, Robin Yount and Ozzie Smith just to name a few.

It will be an exciting event when it happens. And those big league hitters will really launch em into the cornfields.

What to do with that facility the rest of the year? Good question. You could attract a class A mi or league team with an 8,000 seat facility but Cedar Rapids, Clinton, and Davenport all have established minor league franchises within 90 minutes of Dyersville.
 
Northside Hawk said:
They will have to build a completely new facility next to it. No major league team in their right mind would play in a facility where the sun sets directly into the batters' eyes. They are also going to have to improve the access road coming in.

A group of investors, led by former major league player Wade Boggs, has proposed several ideas for the property. For the past several years they have held a charity event, usually on Labor Day weekend, where numerous former big Leaguers have shown up, including hall of famers like Carlton Fisk, Reggie Jackson, Fergie Jenkins, Robin Yount and Ozzie Smith just to name a few.

It will be an exciting event when it happens. And those big league hitters will really launch em into the cornfields.

What to do with that facility the rest of the year? Good question. You could attract a class A mi or league team with an 8,000 seat facility but Cedar Rapids, Clinton, and Davenport all have established minor league franchises within 90 minutes of Dyersville.
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They have 1 year to build a completely new complex. It will be "regulation" size, the field will be perfect. There will be new locker rooms, stands, fences and roads in and out. They will incorporate the corn field in some way but it won't be short enough that every batter bangs one into the corn. Us poor Iowa schlubs wont have a prayer of getting into this. 8000 tickets will go to elites, league officials, celebs, etc. Hopefully they schedule more games in the future. It would be nice if you could bring a lawn chair and sit in the grass but that aint gonna happen.
 
My old high school theatre teacher, Sue Reidel, coordinated the final "traffic jam" scene in the movie. She also scoured Dubuque County looking for farms that would fit the criteria the producers were looking for. One of the stipulations was that the field needed to face toward the setting sun.

Sue, now in her seventies, is still keeping busy. She is the unofficial "first lady of theatre" in the Dubuque area. She runs Bell Tower theatre where my wife and I have had season tickets several times.

My biggest highlight at the field itself may have been when QVC did a live series of shopping channel shows there in the mid 1990's and they used local video people, such as myself, to work in the production truck and operate cameras.
 
AIRHAWK said:
They have 1 year to build a completely new complex. It will be "regulation" size, the field will be perfect. There will be new locker rooms, stands, fences and roads in and out. They will incorporate the corn field in some way but it won't be short enough that every batter bangs one into the corn. Us poor Iowa schlubs wont have a prayer of getting into this. 8000 tickets will go to elites, league officials, celebs, etc. Hopefully they schedule more games in the future. It would be nice if you could bring a lawn chair and sit in the grass but that aint gonna happen.
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So they're going to completely modernize everything about the original field that made it special.
 
I wonder if there is any thought of having a minor league team there. Dyersville is baseball nuts but even with Dubuque nearby along with Farley, Cascade, and other towns, would there be enough support?
 
HawkPrdatr40 said:
No. They are building a completely separate field adjacent to the field of dreams location.
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Right. So what makes this completely separate field anything nearly as special as the original one. They could build this "new field" anywhere. I'm not saying I don't like the idea, but by creating a new one and making it a modern stadium with an 8k capacity your taking away from the nostalgia that made it what it was.
 
kicker22 said:
Right. So what makes this completely separate field anything nearly as special as the original one. They could build this "new field" anywhere. I'm not saying I don't like the idea, but by creating a new one and making it a modern stadium with an 8k capacity your taking away from the nostalgia that made it what it was.
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Whats special about the new field is the fact that no batter is going to have an eye taken out trying to hit major league pitching while looking into a setting sun. Even if you used the original site, you would have to reverse the infield, put up a hitting background, etc.

The original field in it's current configuration would be too dangerous for any major league team in their right mind to even take batting practice. There's going to be enough logistical problems as it is getting all that traffic through downtown Dyersville and out on Lansing road to the site. The west side of Dubuque in the late afternoon is no picnic either. And that's where a lot of traffic will be passing through.
 
Northside Hawk said:
Whats special about the new field is the fact that no batter is going to have an eye taken out trying to hit major league pitching while looking into a setting sun. Even if you used the original site, you would have to reverse the infield, put up a hitting background, etc.

The original field in it's current configuration would be too dangerous for any major league team in their right mind to even take batting practice. There's going to be enough logistical problems as it is getting all that traffic through downtown Dyersville and out on Lansing road to the site. The west side of Dubuque in the late afternoon is no picnic either. And that's where a lot of traffic will be passing through.
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I'm not disagreeing with that in the slightest bit. What I'm saying is that the things that make it "special" and what it is, are not something that they can simply breathe into a new stadium. The MLB game will not be played at the "field of dreams" but rather a new stadium next to the "field of dreams".

Like I said, I think its an absolutely awesome thing and great for the state as well as the Dyersville/Dubuque communities. But the way I see it is if someone were to build a "modernized" more updated Kinnick Stadium right next to historic Kinnick stadium, it may be fantastic and possibly exceed all expectations, but it's never going to be the same.
 
kicker22 said:
I'm not disagreeing with that in the slightest bit. What I'm saying is that the things that make it "special" and what it is, are not something that they can simply breathe into a new stadium. The MLB game will not be played at the "field of dreams" but rather a new stadium next to the "field of dreams".

Like I said, I think its an absolutely awesome thing and great for the state as well as the Dyersville/Dubuque communities. But the way I see it is if someone were to build a "modernized" more updated Kinnick Stadium right next to historic Kinnick stadium, it may be fantastic and possibly exceed all expectations, but it's never going to be the same.
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In 1987 they rebuilt our favorite local pool hall in Dubuque, Cue Master Billiards, across the street from the existing one because they would be expanding the law enforcement building soon. The new "Cue" was brighter, bigger, had a better sound system, had room for two big screen TV's for sports, and had room for a bigger grill. And of course it never replaced the charm of the dark, dingy, old place. That place had memories that can't be replaced or replicate. For example we used to play football on the side of the pool hall where the pinball machines and poker table stood, where there was a little more room. We would use someone's stocking cap as the football. From that standpoint I know exactly where you're coming from.

Bye the way, I've always sucked at billiards. I can hold my own in darts.
 
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Building a temporary stadium for this is plain stupid and takes away the awesomeness of playing the game on the actual field. Just pull the corn back 50-80 feet along with the lights, put up temporary stands, and play the game on the actual field.
 
kicker22 said:
Right. So what makes this completely separate field anything nearly as special as the original one. They could build this "new field" anywhere. I'm not saying I don't like the idea, but by creating a new one and making it a modern stadium with an 8k capacity your taking away from the nostalgia that made it what it was.
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You don’t get it do you?
 
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