Iowa native Derek Hill says Phillies’ Field of Dreams game will be a ‘full circle’ experience
Baseball once took Hill away from Iowa, and now it’s bringing him back to play in a cornfield for the game inspired by the movie. “It made me who I am. I love the people there,” he said.
ST. LOUIS — Growing up, Derek Hill usually had to travel away from his home state of Iowa for meaningful baseball competition.
Baseball lags behind football and wrestling in terms of popularity in the state. So Hill, who is from Des Moines, would often go to places like Kansas City or Colorado for baseball tournaments to face higher-caliber opponents. When he was 14, he moved to California as he started pursuing the sport more seriously.
But on Thursday, Hill, 30, will return to Iowa as a major leaguer, to play a major league baseball game. It’s something the Phillies outfielder hardly could have imagined on those long drives as a kid.
“Full circle,” Hill said.
The Phillies will play in the cornfield on Thursday (7:30 p.m., Netflix) against the Twins in Dyersville, Iowa.
The Phillies are set to take on the Twins in Dyersville, Iowa, for MLB’s Field of Dreams game inspired by the movie. The game will be held at a ballpark adjacent to the one actually seen in the 1989 film, with a cornfield beyond the outfield fence that the players enter through at the beginning of the game.
It will be Hill’s first visit to Dyersville, which is less than two hours away from Des Moines. Even after moving away, Iowa remains a special place to him.
“It made me who I am. I love the people there,” Hill said. “Midwest love, can’t get better.”
He will have several family members there in person. While it’s a bit too complicated of a trip for his wife and 20-month-old daughter to make for one game, Hill’s mother and brother still live in Iowa, and his sister is flying out from Philadelphia.
Even though he doesn’t play every day, Hill has certainly made his presence felt on the Phillies in the two months since they acquired him from the White Sox. He has started just 18 games since the June 11 trade, primarily against left-handed pitchers.
But he’s pulled off numerous highlight-reel plays in the outfield, provides significant speed off the bench, and has come up clutch several times at the plate. That included Sunday, when Hill delivered a walk-off single against Toronto in the 12th inning. Hill has a .233 batting average overall this season. But in 23 plate appearances as a pinch-hitter, that jumps to .300, with a 1.114 OPS to boot.
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With right-handed Taj Bradley expected to pitch for the Twins, it’s unlikely that Hill will start in Dyersville on Thursday. But that just means that there could be an opportunity for some more late-game heroics.
He’s not the only Phillies player who is excited for the unique experience. Aaron Nola, who is scheduled to start the game, has never been to Iowa and is looking forward to seeing it for the first time. Bryce Harper and Bryson Stott have special gear they are planning to wear, and Harper wants to visit the former movie set to see the place where the film was actually shot.
But it’s a bit more personal for Hill. Because while baseball once took him away from Iowa, now it’s bringing him back.
“It’s pretty cool that they’re doing this, and that they built an actual stadium, like full-blown stadium there now. They’re taking it seriously,” Hill said. “I think that’s really cool. It’s bringing a lot of eyes and a lot of positivity to Iowa.”
Extra bases
Nola (3-9, 5.47 ERA) is scheduled to start in Dyersville against Minnesota’s Bradley (9-4, 3.76). ... Iowa will become the 22nd U.S. state in franchise history that the Phillies have played in.
In trading for Luis Arraez at the deadline, the Phillies displaced three-fourths of their infield but left Trea Turner at shortstop. To help make sense of it all, pennant-winning former shortstop and current radio broadcaster Kevin Stocker joined Phillies Extra, The Inquirer's baseball podcast. Watch here.
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