Cubs beat Reds in MLB Field of Dreams game marked by tributes to legends

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(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

The game provided many nostalgic moments as retired baseball greats roamed the field prior to the game and current players donned retro uniforms.

Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. and his father, Ken Griffey Sr., opened the festivities by playing catch in the outfield as the players and legends from both teams emerged from the cornfields surrounding the park.

“Hey dad, do you wanna have a catch?” Griffey Jr. said.

“I’d like that,” replied his father, who had an 18-year MLB career.

Among the Baseball Hall of Famers in attendance Thursday were five Cubs legends, including Billy Williams, Andre Dawson, Fergie Jenkins, Ryne Sandberg, and Lee Smith, and three Reds greats, including Johnny Bench, Barry Larkin, and Griffey Jr.

(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

The game’s seventh-inning stretch featured a rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” sung by a hologram of beloved Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray, who died in 1998.

The game also paid respect to Vin Scully, the legendary Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster who died earlier this month. Scully narrated a scene from the Field of Dreams movie in which actor James Earl Jones tells Costner’s character, “People will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.”

Actor Ray Liotta was also honored during the broadcast by his Field of Dreams co-star. During the game, Costner reflected on his time with Liotta on set and said Liotta “gets to live forever in our hearts.” Liotta died earlier this year at the age of 67. He portrayed Chicago White Sox ball player “Shoeless Joe” Jackson in the 1989 film.

Fox Sports baseball commentator and Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz also revealed on the air that his father had died earlier in the day. Smoltz took time during the game to remember his father and look back on the memories they shared together. He told lead broadcaster Joe Davis that his father would have wanted him to attend the game Thursday despite his death and that there was no better way to honor him.

Thursday’s game didn’t end in as dramatic fashion as last year’s contest, when Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the New York Yankees. Both the Reds and the Cubs have long been out of playoff contention, and the Cubs took an early lead in the game and never looked back, beating the Reds 4-2.

(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

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“A game like this … you just feel like a kid again,” Cubs starting pitcher Drew Smyly said after the game. “You’re just out there playing baseball in the middle of Iowa.”

Baseball fans may have to wait longer than expected for the next game in Dyersville, as MLB Hall of Famer Frank Thomas, who’s part of the group that owns the baseball complex, told the Des Moines Register that construction of more baseball and softball facilities at the site will likely prevent the league from returning to the baseball field until 2024.