The Field of Dreams and Tim McGraw make for a perfect bucket list trip to Iowa

The Field of Dreams is my all-time favorite movie. Sure, there are a number of other classics that are right up there and rank at least in my Top 10, but that movie is truly special. Special because of the message it presents as a baseball fanatic, and that other message it presents.

I have always wanted to make the pilgrimage to that field where the film was made in Dyersville, Iowa. You could definitely say it was a bucket list item for me. And so for my birthday, my 65^th birthday, Melissa arranged to make that possible.

In addition to baseball, one of my other loves is country music. And one of my favorite country artists has always been Tim McGraw. I had always wanted to see him in concert but, alas, that just never worked out. You could say that, too, was also a bucket list item for me. And, again, for my 65^th birthday, Melissa arranged for that, too, to be possible.

As it turned out, Tim McGraw committed to performing a concert AT the Field of Dreams site, on August 30, 2025. So I was able to cross two items off my bucket list in one trip.

We made our way to Iowa late Wednesday, and that meant the entire day was available to take in the experience of the Field of Dreams site. Melissa arranged for a tour of the house that still stands, and appears exactly the way it did in the film.

Melissa and Alan on the same stands Karen fell from in the movie

When we got there, we were told that it was free to visit the field, but that the suggested donation was $20.

You’ll say “It’s only twenty dollars per person.” They’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it. For it is money they have and peace they lack…

And I did hand over $20 without even thinking about it.

On select days, there is an opportunity to have a catch with some “ghosts” who appear from the cornfields in the old Chicago White Sox uniforms. On the day we were there, there was only one ghost who actively engaged with all of the visitors to the field. But we all got to play on the field, each taking a turn at bat and playing the field while others hit.

And I got a turn to walk into the cornfield.

We were told how hot it was while the cast and crew were filming, especially dressed in the heavy wool uniforms of the era that the ghosts were from. I, myself, figured I was going to take a pic like Kevin Costner, who was wearing jeans while he was having a catch, but I quickly realized THAT was a mistake. It was HOT out there. And then running around a bit, I was definitely not dressed for the part.

I got to engage with some of the other people who were there, enjoying the atmosphere of just being on that field, feeling and smelling the grass.

The sounds, the smells. Did you ever hold a ball or a glove to your face?

For anyone who loves baseball, they understand those sensations. But you could sense that there was certainly more to it than just that.

On the day in between, Friday, we made our way to Galena, Illinois, the small town where my grandmother grew up. And I am ashamed of myself because as the movie is my favorite, I had no idea that Galena was the actual backdrop for the scenes that were supposed to be taking place in Chisolm, Minnesota, where Ray Kinsella and Terrance Mann go to find Archibald “Moonlight” Graham.

Main Street in Galena, Illinois where Ray Kinsella and Terence Mann searched for Moonlight Graham

Ironically, the very steps that my grandmother would tell how she climbed hundreds of them every day to go to school was the background for one of the scenes. And I learned that she was NOT exaggerating.

The very steps my grandmother climbed every day to go to school and one of the scenes depicted as Chisolm, Minnesota

When Tim McGraw finally took the stage on Saturday night at about 9:05 p.m., he sang four songs before he spoke to the audience of 20,000 people, and expressed why HE thought being there was so special.

Tim began by saying how much it meant to him to be at the Field of Dreams to perform on the date that would have been his dad Tug McGraw’s 81^st birthday. And that he was looking out at the field fully expecting his dad to come walking out from the corn.

Tim McGraw leading the crowd in the singing of Happy Birthday to his dad Tug McGraw

Tim then asked the overflow crowd to sing Happy Birthday to Tug.

He ended his performance by singing, well, struggling to sing, his hit song Live Like You Were Dying, a song written to honor his dad, who he watched pass away from brain cancer at the early age of 59. It culminated with a video of Tug getting the final out of the 1980 World Series as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Tim McGraw singing Live Like You Were Dying for his dad on his birthday

Believe it or not, there were a LOT more New York Mets No. 45 jerseys than Phillies jerseys there that night…as well as dozens of t-shirts that read “Ya Gotta Believe!”

I loved Tug McGraw as a player, even after he left the Mets to achieve success with the Phillies. And I came to love Tim McGraw not just because of his music, because I certainly love his music, but it was more because of his unwavering and never-ending thoughts of and love for his dad. He makes no secret of that…nor did he hold back on the connection of his dad, baseball, and that field.

THAT’s the other message from the film that strikes such a cord – the connection of father and son.

It’s Iowa, corn as far as the eyes can see. What’s the big deal? The big deal is that there is just something about that place that you just get immersed in. The field…the sensations and the emotions…you have to experience it to understand it.