From the desk of Dan Price
My trip to the Field of Dreams is just two weeks away.
For this 80-year-old baseball historian, the 50-and-over Moonlight Classic to be held in Dyersville, Iowa, on September 5-7 is simply a dream come true for yours truly, as I will be a member of the Georgetown, California Orioles -- one of 16 teams participating in the event.
As an added bonus, the Orioles will play their opening game against RC21, a team from Puerto Rico, whose players will wear their jerseys, honoring the great Roberto Clemente. The Orioles' first game will be held in downtown Dyersville at the home field of the local high school team, Beckman Catholic, and the Dyersville Whitehawks, a semi-pro team.
The opener is slated for 8 a.m., followed at 2 p.m. with another seeding game, but what makes Day 1 complete for this historian and my Orioles' teammates is the fact that the second game will be played at the original Field of Dreams, the field used in the 1989 film that starred Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, Burt Lancaster and James Earl Jones.
Yes, the Orioles were selected in a pre-tourney lottery to play at the famous field against a team called the East Coast Cardinals.
The third-round opponents will be announced after all seeding games are completed on Friday, September 5, as the weekend games then turn into single-elimination contests.
Along with my third-base coaching job with the Orioles, I hope to post stories on my blog daily about my stay in downtown Dyersville with my two sons, Michael, 60, and Dan, 57, as I hang out with the locals searching for, like I always do, characters to write about.
It should be fun!
