In the film Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner walks through his cornfield and hears someone whisper. “If you build it, he will come.” Costner’s character Ray Kinsella somehow concludes that he should build a baseball field. And, of course, so it came to be.
FIELD OF DREAMS, Ray Liotta, Kevin Costner, 1989, (c) Universal
The Lake County Fielders, the team co-owned by Costner, announced on Friday afternoon, April 9th that construction will begin on their new stadium in Zion, this week. The home opener is scheduled in just about two months.
The surprisingly controversial Lake County Fielders (see the comments on an earlier post) said, “The stadium project is now worthy of a blockbuster major league trade announcement beginning with its new location on a 23-acre site at the NE corner of the Rt. 173 and Green Bay Road, gateway to Trumpet Park and the City of Zion. The “ballpark village” will include a year round multi-use development showcasing retail shops, multi-screen movie theatre, and restaurant.”
The Daily Herald interviewed Lake County Fielders spokeperson, Bernie DiMeo.
“The new site was chosen to speed up construction, Fielders spokesman Bernie DiMeo said.
It is owned by a group of real-estate developers and is leased to Grand Slam Sports & Entertainment, the Fielders’ parent company, said Richard Ehrenreich, the firm’s president. Eventually the site will be leased to the city.
The team may be able to play around the construction project, DiMeo said. Temporary bleachers could be built for fans during the work, he said.
With those concessions in mind, DiMeo said, the team “will certainly have a shot at the original date for the home opener,” a June 11 game against the Gary SouthShore RailCats.”
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There is suspicion among some about the announcement.
Here is a portion of an e-mail from a commenter, “Sounds to me like a desperate attempt to keep from having to refund the money they’ve taken in. Released on Friday afternoon to a news service? Not how I’d want to start a legitimate project. No mention of who’s going to pay for what, how much or where the money will come from. The whole “baseball village” angle sounds like some developer fantasy PR. ”
And the posters on the Northern League fan site nlfan.com are not very optimistic. Here are some random comments.
Where did they get the money to do this, then? Interesting Hail Mary they’ve got here.
..It sounds like Zion is about to get fleeced big time. Beerbarrons should be happy…Temporary Bleachers!
And this one really hurts,
That they expected these people to be amazed by a cardboard cutout of a movie star(Costner) and were then proven right is one of the sadder aspects of this. Lot of rubes in Lake County.
Keep watching for the building activity Zion. Baseball restored!
Zion? They want to put a ballpark in Zion?? Sounds like a perfect spot for a future bankrupt development.
Are the advocates of this project Zionists? If so, will this help or hurt recruiting for the team and the potential fan base? Would Michael Savage get to be the team announcer? Would Iran place a fatwa on the team? Yep, I can see a Costner comedy coming out of this.
Excellent question. And will the team look to expand to Palatine and Antioch?
Well, here we are 2 weeks after the announcement of the new site and promises of construction starting immediately and nothing has happened on the site. A number of questions have been raised relative to zoning and other code issues. Based on the Mayor’s own comments as well as common sense, a special use permit is necessary. The site has not been posted for any special use permit hearing and nothing has been placed on a council agenda. Similarly, I see no mention in any published minutes or posted agenda for the approval of a lease.
I think they’re going to lay some sod, cut out a diamond and rent some temporary bleachers. It will be like a barnstorming field.
and it likely that the fielders will be a one year historical footnote.
This debacle puts the cities of Joliet and Gary in the Ivy League.
I think people should wait and see before critisizing.Im not from the area so maybe what I have to say may not mean a hill of beans.But remember the movie I believe they will come.I have seen more baseball academies in this state than anywhere Ive been.Im a bat salesman and have been all over this country and am amazed at how this state reflex the movie.Im glad to see Americans playing our national pastime.