CHICAGO -- Tim Anderson’s retirement Monday brought back one of the most vivid regular-season nights in recent White Sox memory, and it still starts with the same image: a ball disappearing into the corn in Iowa.
The first Field of Dreams game between the White Sox and Yankees on Aug. 12, 2021, delivered plenty of spectacle before Anderson finished it with the signature swing of the night. He drove a two-run homer off Zach Britton into the right-field corn for the lone “Stalk Off” in Major League Baseball history, sending White Sox players into celebration and fireworks bursting after a 9-8 win.
“Going through those memories, it was just one of those games where we went back and forth,” Anderson said. “Being able to walk it off definitely was a great feeling.
“That moment is going to be around forever. We are still talking about it five years later. We are still touching on such a cool moment that happened in baseball.”
The setting made everything feel even bigger. Kevin Costner was there, the teams walked out from the corn for a pregame that matched the hype, and the night had the kind of theater that makes baseball look larger than life. Anderson also confirmed Monday that he still has not watched “Field of Dreams,” a running joke from that week.
The game itself never stopped swinging. José Abreu opened the scoring with the first MLB homer ever hit in Iowa, taking Andrew Heaney deep in the first inning. Seby Zavala and Eloy Jiménez also homered in a game that featured eight total long balls.
Then came the late chaos. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton hit two-out homers in the ninth off Liam Hendriks, flipping a 7-4 White Sox lead into an 8-7 Yankees advantage. Zavala’s one-out walk against Britton set up Anderson’s final blow, a detail that often gets lost in the highlight reel.
Anderson still has the jersey, batting gloves and helmet from that night, and he said the scene around him said everything.
“As I round second, I see the team, everybody is just going crazy. I look up in the stands, and everybody is just going crazy,” Anderson said.
“You hear the fireworks. Just a moment of happiness.
We were really happy in that moment.
“Everyone in the baseball world was happy, it don't matter which team you were really going for. Well, I mean besides if you were for the Yankees.
But just being in that moment, definitely it struck the baseball community. Just being happy.
I think the ultimate goal is to be happy and that was a really happy moment.”
He put it simply again later: “I don’t think it could have went any better than what it did. Those moments, you can’t forget them,” Anderson said.
“You could easily ask somebody if they remember that and they'll say yeah. It was definitely one of those moments to remember for sure.”
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