Dyersville, Iowa is located 30 minutes west of Dubuque with a population of just over 4,000. There is a baseball arching over the brick welcome sign, but the closest organization to professional baseball is the local Little Prairie Baseball League.
Yet, the town associates itself with baseball on the big screen rather than in organized leagues.
Dyersville is home to the original movie set of “Field of Dreams.” There sits the iconic white farmhouse, where the fictional Kinsella family lived and the baseball diamond with the corn outfield stands four miles from City Hall.
Attracting over 100,000 visitors per year, it took the Stillman family just one visit before deciding they wanted a part in the ownership. Luckily for them, the previous owners were selling.
“My dad and I were leaving the Field of Dreams and he called one of his good friends, and his friend said that the Field of Dreams was for sale,” freshman golfer John Stillman said. “My mom said we should turn it into a Cooperstown-type Youth Baseball complex.”
That one idea sparked what the Field of Dreams is today, at least the professional side of it.
The Stillman family
John Stillman calls himself a “COVID freshman,” a sophomore with freshman athletic eligibility due to the pandemic. The freshman golfer is off to a hot start, finishing the round at SIU-Edwardsville with a collegiate best 72.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Stillman said. “I played in a tournament in Florida in the middle of January and I hadn’t hit a ball off grass because the weather up here was so bad. It was the first competitive round of golf I played in a month and a half.”
Despite the challenges the Midwestern winter provided, Stillman was able to play at the highest level. Years of practice, beginning at a young age, has propelled him to the skill level he plays at now.
“My dad loves playing golf too, so I always played with him growing up,” Stillman said. “My dad always told me I had a brighter future in golf than baseball, but stubborn me didn’t want to take the advice.”
Stillman ultimately listened to his father, hence why he’s here at Bradley on the men’s golf team.
“I was lucky growing up,” Stillman said. “I’ve always been close with both my parents and have a great relationship with both of them.”
The son of Michael and the late Denise Stillman, John is from Oak Lawn, Illinois on the southside of Chicago. His mother lost her battle with cancer in November of 2018.
“If I knew now that I was going to lose my mom after 17 years, I would 100 percent do it all over again,” Stillman said. “I wouldn’t trade any of those 17 years I got with her for anything else in the world. You know that when you hear someone’s name and you lose them, when a smile comes to the face before a tear comes to the eye, you know you’ve made it.”
Both of Stillman’s parents are Bradley graduates. As soon as coach Jeff Roche offered him the chance to play, he took it on the spot. He wants to continue their legacy here on campus, both as a student and an athlete.
Realizing the dream
Denise and Michael Stillman headed an investment group that looked to purchase the field in 2012, aptly named Go the Distance Baseball, LLC. At the complex, the farmhouse and original field used in the “Field of Dreams” movie still stand, corncob outfield and all. Directly behind the original field is where the dream truly lays with a vision for the future.
Being from the south side of Chicago, Stillman is a diehard White Sox fan. As a result, there is White Sox symbolism all along the outfield.
“The dimensions [in the outfield] are of old Comiskey Park,” Stillman said. “It’s going to be the exact dimensions and the outfield [wall] will just be corn. It’s an 8,000 person capacity, but the stands will be temporary while the stadium and the structure will be there permanently.”
The dream to turn Dyersville into a Cooperstown-esque facility exceeded all expectations when Major League Baseball announced a scheduled game at the Field of Dreams facility. Though the coronavirus took away the 2020 game, the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees are scheduled to play in Dyersville on Aug. 12, 2021.
Though Stillman would like to say he had a hand in getting his favorite team to the Field of Dreams, he didn’t. But, he sure is happy that they are there for the inaugural game. In addition, MLB is doing a heavy marketing campaign, encouraging fans to attend the game. The hope is this promotional neutral-site game will become a yearly celebration.
“Every time I see [a social media post about the game] it kind of gives me chills down my spine,” Stillman said.
But, he knows there is still work to be done. Though he is not involved directly in an upper management capacity because he’s still technically a sophomore in college, he still knows what goes on at the family ballpark.
Stillman is not one to flaunt the fact that his family owns a piece of baseball and movie history. He doesn’t use it as his ice breaker when introducing himself. At this point, it’s just another trait to describe his family.
The baseball field and farmhouse were used for the filming of the movie in 1989. Since then, it’s largely been a tourist attraction. The set’s past has been touched with stars on the big screen like Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones, Ray Liota and Amy Madigan to name a few. Its future hope is to be touched by stars on the field, like Yoan Moncada, Eloy Jiminez and Aaron Judge this upcoming 2021 season.
For now, Stillman won’t be involved in the decision-making. That doesn’t make the field any less his. And although his mother wasn’t able to see the final product, it’s just as much hers.
“So much of that field reminds me of my mom, just how hard she worked on it, unfortunately after she passed,” Stillman said. “She always had the vision of having an MLB game out there. I know how hard my mom worked on it and how happy she is to see her vision coming to light.”
