'I just feel like a kid': Behind the scenes with the Reds at the Field of Dreams game

DYERSVILLE, IOWA – Players walked onto the field at the Field of Dreams, wearing 1919-inspired uniforms, and they were taken back to their childhoods.

They all had their phones to capture photos and videos as they tried to soak in the experience.

Some players walked to the cornstalks behind the outfield. Other players gathered for selfies. Chicago Cubs reliever Mark Leiter Jr. walked into the stands. Cubs pitchers Marcus Stroman, who wasn’t pitching in Thursday’s game, mimicked a delivery on the mound in front of a photographer.

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“I just feel like a kid,” Reds pitcher Justin Dunn said. “I was telling them over there, it reminds me a lot of playing in Cooperstown at 12 years old. It has the same kind of vibe. Obviously, not the cornfields, but small stadium, intimate. We’re just out here playing the game. It is a kid’s game at the end of the day. That’s what it is about.”

After the Reds flew from New York to the Dubuque Regional Airport in Iowa, their buses received a police escort on their 19-mile drive to the Field of Dreams. As they rolled through the two-lane highway and small towns – the field is in the middle of a cornfield – people stood outside and waved.

One person on the bus said it felt like a parade when they passed through Farley, a town with a population of about 1,700 people.

“The support they have for this game itself is pretty amazing,” Mike Moustakas said. “We’re driving down the highway and people waving to us the whole way. It’s a pretty special feeling and a pretty special area.”

Reds assistant pitching coach Eric Jagers grew up about an hour outside of Dyersville. He had more than a half-dozen family and friends at the game, including his parents and his nana, and some showed their support by wearing Reds jerseys with “Jagers” on the back.

He laughed at how players were awestruck by the cornstalks because he grew up playing at plenty of baseball diamonds surrounded by cornfields.

“It’s pretty nostalgic for me,” Jagers said. “To do it on this stage, with these guys and everything, it’s awesome. Everybody is taking pictures and videos of the corn. I’m like I hope you enjoy it, I’m used to it, so if you ever need any more, let me know.”

Twenty-five minutes after the Reds stepped off the bus, they were sitting in center field and taking a team photo. It was their first chance to put on the pinstripe uniforms, but it fit with the ballpark’s aesthetic – “It would feel funny having a modern uniform on,” Manager David Bell said.

Tyler Stephenson, who didn’t travel with the Reds on their 10-day, nine-game road trip after he had surgery to repair his broken right clavicle, was in full uniform and took photos during batting practice with his right arm in a sling. He wasn’t going to miss this game.

Kyle Farmer wore custom cleats inspired by the Field of Dreams movie cover. Dunn, who wasn’t pitching in the game, ordered custom shoes when he was called up last weekend. Dunn’s white and gold shoes paid homage to the Black aces, Black pitchers who won 20 games in a season.

“When you think of the Field of Dreams, to me, you think about the ones that came before you,” Dunn said. “All those Black starters that won 20 games, made a name for themselves and made it possible for me to do what I do, I just want to pay homage to them, respect that.”

The Field of Dreams game is about honoring the sport’s history. It’s the reason why Major League players turn into kids when they walked onto a field in uniforms that resembled what teams wore a century ago.

Before the start of the game, Ken Griffey Jr. and Ken Griffey Sr. reprised the ending of Field of Dreams when they had catch in the outfield. Barry Larkin and Johnny Bench walked out of the cornfield with the players, and Bench caught the ceremonial first pitch from Cubs great Fergie Jenkins.

Marty Brennaman, Davey Concepcion, George Foster, Sean Casey, Drew Storen and Travis Wood were among the 7,823 people in the crowd, drawn to a baseball field in a cornfield in rural Iowa.

“I woke up this morning feeling a little bit different than I thought I would,” Bell said. “As I’ve heard from people around the game, friends and family, it’s starting to hit me and I’m starting to realize what is so special about this day is that all the people that love this game that have their eyes on tonight. All the people that will be here, all the people watching on TV. It’s, mainly, just a group of people that love our game.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds players on what Field of Dreams game meant to them