Wed - 08 May
Written by Jim Ecker
In the classic 1989 movie “Field of Dreams,” an Iowa farmer plows under a corn field and builds a real baseball field in its place when a mysterious voice whispers “If you build it, he will come.”
That was fiction, of course, but the real thing has been happening at Prospect Meadows. And instead of just one field that attracted legendary ghost players, Prospect Meadows will feature nine fields this year and a total of 17 fields when the project is finished in 2023.
Thousands and thousands of young folks – not ghosts like Shoeless Joe Jackson and Kevin Costner’s father -- will be getting a chance to play baseball and softball at the complex.
The Opening Day ceremonies and ribbon-cutting will be held on Thursday, May 23 at the sparkling new complex, which is located at the juncture of Highway 13 and County Home Road just north of Marion.
There will be a reception for invited guests at 3 p.m., with the ceremony at 4 p.m., a public open house that begins at 5 p.m. and ballgames on five of the fields at 5:30 p.m., including a game on the Miracle Field for people with special needs.
It’s taken almost 10 years to plan the facility, raise the funds and actually get it built, but Prospect Meadows is already being hailed as a first-class baseball and softball complex in Iowa.
Jack Roeder, the general manager at Prospect Meadows, was the GM of the Cedar Rapids Kernels when they opened their new ballpark in 2002 and helped oversee that project.
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