When and where to see the Ghost Players in 2024
It’s the self-proclaimed, “Greatest Show on Dirt” where players are dressed in the 1919 Chicago White Sox uniforms and enter the Field of Dreams coming through the cornfield. For one hour, they provide a Harlem Globetrotter-like show, as well as carry forward a family-friendly message. The events are technically known as “Ghost Saturdays”.
Where do the Ghost Player games take place?
Ghost Saturdays take place on the original Field of Dreams playing field in Dyersville, Iowa. The address is: 28995 Lansing Rd. Dyersville, Iowa 52040
What is the cost of attending Ghost Saturdays?
Ghost Saturdays are free. The shows are only one hour long. Please bring your own seating such as a lawn chair or blanket.
How did Ghost Players get started?
After the film crews left, the care of the field was adopted by a few locals including Keith Rahe (pronounced Ray). Rahe lived near the field and helped care for the field as visitors started making pilgrimages to the movie site.
In the fall of 1990, as visitors increased, Rahe came up with the idea of ghost players dressed in 1919 uniforms who would come out and play catch with the visitors. Rahe went ahead and purchased eight old White Sox uniforms. But he didn’t have pants, so he called his buddy Marv Maiers, who managed a local semi-pro team. Maiers had the pinstripe pants. When Rahe asked to borrow the pants, Maiers responded that he would have to come along, as he needed to make sure that he got the pants back. Maiers also asked for some members of the local semi-pro team to help out. Now they had eight jerseys, eight pants, and… eight players.
On a Sunday afternoon in the fall of 1990, the eight men walked through the corn and onto the field, completely unannounced. And the crowd loved it.
On that initial Sunday afternoon, there also happened to be a reporter in the crowd from the Cedar Rapids Gazette Newspaper. On Oct 6th, 1990, the front page of the Gazette featured a photo of Marv Maiers, Keith Rahe, and baseball fanatic Barry Zomisky who traveled two days from San Diego to visit the field. This was purely by chance, not a planned photo op. But you couldn’t ask for a better launch, as the article in the Gazette led to additional coverage in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
On the following Sunday morning, Rahe received a frantic call from the property owner, encouraging the men to get dressed and get over to the field. The Field of Dreams was filled a thousand visitors waiting for the ghost players to enter the field.
It wasn’t long before they started doing regional appearances and to international trips. They made several tours to Japan and from 1993 to 2001, they traveled internationally for the US Military visiting 27 foreign countries.
Were any of the ghost players in the actual movie?
Yes, Dan Kennedy, Terry Kelleher from Dubuque and Jude Milberg of Dyersville were featured as extras in the movie and continued as active members of the Ghost Players.
