By all accounts, MLB’s Field of Dreams game was a success, from the "Is this Heaven?" experience of coming out of the Iowa cornfields to the game itself.
Two more clubs will follow the Yankees and White Sox into Dyersville, Iowa, next year, and perhaps it will become an annual special event.
Commissioner Rob Manfred has expressed a desire for additional such one-off MLB games at distant and interesting places, and here are five ideas:
Night and Day in Alaska
The Alaska Goldpanners have traditionally played the "Midnight Sun Game" on, or about June 21, in Fairbanks, without the need for artificial light.
How about a midnight day game between two MLB clubs, a first for the 49th state, involving two teams that can continue their series on the West Coast?
Extra bonus: In the century-old tradition of this game, it has apparently never been rained out.
A League of Their Own
This is completely Suzyn Waldman’s idea, who mentioned it in an interview with Manfred on Thursday.
"A League of Their Own" is a great baseball movie, honoring the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (1943-54), with teams from mostly small to mid-sized Midwest cities.
The championship game finale was filmed at Bosse Field in Evansville, Indiana (at 23 Don Mattingly Way), and that’s where two MLB teams would meet, on a day to honor women in baseball.
Extra bonus: More history! Of the current ballparks in the U.S., only Fenway Park and Wrigley Field are older than Bosse Field.
Dominican Day
Players from the Dominican Republic fill the rosters of every big-league club, and this would be a way to honor their homeland.
MLB played a few series in Puerto Rico when the Montreal Expos were a ward of MLB and playing a full series in the D.R. would be the aim here, making it a true homecoming event for some of the game’s most talented players.
Extra bonus: Making the tickets free, donating baseball equipment to youth organizations and building a permanent field.
Honoring the Irish
If you spent any time at the old Foley’s bar in New York, home of the Irish-American Baseball Hall of Fame, you know there’s a baseball following in Ireland.
There is an Irish Baseball League and an Irish National Team, and a field – similar to the Iowa ballpark – could be constructed in the Irish countryside, providing a breathtaking venue.
Of course, the Red Sox and Yankees would meet here first, just as they did in London in 2019.
Extra bonus: Lifting a postgame pint in a Dublin pub, naturally.
See you in C-U-B-A?
Maybe this one is not possible right now, but baseball’s impact in Cuba is immense and has been for over a century.
MLB last played an exhibition game at Havana in March 2016, with the Tampa Bay Rays against the Cuban National Team, and a return would not go without controversy.
But big-league baseball’s roots in Cuba run deep, from current stars to teams that once regularly made stops – or even trained here – before the 1950s.
Extra bonus: It’s impossible to separate the politics, but anything to benefit the people of Cuba should be the aim.
Five other locations
Panama: The Yankees played an exhibition game here in 2014, with Mariano Rivera naturally as their ambassador.
Brazil: Other South American countries are more famous for baseball, but a game in Rio could be a fine showcase.
Australia: Too far for a mid-summer series, but fine for a season-opening series, as MLB has done in Japan.
Pensacola, Florida: Baseball in the Florida panhandle, tied in with the Naval Air Station, similar to MLB’s game at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in 2016.
Vancouver, British Columbia: Give the Seattle Mariners a few home games here and get Western Canada a series involving the Toronto Blue Jays.
Pete Caldera is the Yankees beat writer for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to all Yankees analysis, news, trades and more, please subscribe today and download our app.
Email: caldera@northjersey.com Twitter: @pcaldera