ACCESSING THE ARCHIVES
In retrospect , the most interesting piece in the July 1989 issue was an article titled “‘ Field of Dreams ’ was fleeting project .”
According to the article , “ The Proturf Division of Pacific Sod in Camarillo , Calif ., is accustomed to unusual requests from movie producers . But last summer , when Gordon Productions asked the company ’ s Neil Beeson if he could build an authentic-looking professional baseball diamond in the middle of an Iowa cornfield for ‘ Field of Dreams ,’ he thought he had heard it all .”
“ The schedule was tight ,” said Beeson . “ We had to complete the project over the Fourth of July to meet the producer ’ s schedule . That gave us only seven days to build a baseball diamond out of a cornfield .”
The article goes on to describe the field and lighting installation , as well as the 10-day film production schedule on the site . The article concludes with details of removal of the field .
“ It would have made a great Little League field ,” said Beeson . “ But the property line runs right down the middle of the field and the farmers were anxious to plant corn there again the following spring .”
The article stated , “ The bluegrass has been turned under , the lights have been removed , and the farmers of Dyersville must watch the movie to see their short-lived baseball field . No doubt they ’ ll be telling the story about night baseball in the middle of their corn fields for years to come ”
Little did they know at the time that the field would soon reopen , and people would come to the movie site — or that Major League Baseball would “ go the distance ” three decades later and build an MLB-ready field for the
Field of Dreams games in 2021 and 2022 .
September 1989 saw SportsTurf focus on turf horse racing tracks , while the October issue once again looked
at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami , and its post-Super Bowl event load and management . 1989 wrapped up with golfheavy content and a December buyers guide . SFM
All content for this section is pulled from the SportsTurf / SportsField Management archives , an ongoing cooperative project of EPG Brand Acceleration , SFMA and the Michigan State University Libraries ( https :// sturf . lib . msu . edu / index . html ). sportsfieldmanagementonline . com April 2024 | SportsField Management
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