DYERSVILLE, Iowa - For a few minutes on Thursday, the Field of Dreams turned into exactly what the movie promised: a place where baseball, family and memory all collided.
Roger Clemens, dressed head to toe in a retro Boston Red Sox uniform, walked out to meet his son, Kody, on the famous diamond. He stopped just short of him and delivered the line everyone knows.
“Is this heaven?” he asked, standing on the field made famous by the 1989 film, “Field of Dreams.”
“No, it’s Iowa,” Kody Clemens answered, then followed with the movie’s next famous line and asked his father if he wanted to have a catch.
They played catch the way Ray Kinsella did with his late father in the movie’s final scene, and the fans around them let them know they loved it when the moment ended.
The Twins had already dropped MLB’s third Field of Dreams game, falling 7-1 to the Phillies, but that father-son scene stood out as one of the day’s lasting images.
“It was all his idea. He wanted to emulate the movie scene with the dad and Kevin Costner.
I was all for it,” Kody Clemens said of his father, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner and the 1986 American League MVP. “It was great.”
The family moments kept coming. Byron Buxton and his 12-year-old son Brixton were tossing a ball around before the game. Manager Derek Shelton did the same with his father, Ron, and joked that at 78, his dad’s arm looks better than his own.
“It’s a little disheartening,” Shelton said, before describing how meaningful it was to share that time with his father.
Tommy Nance had his own tribute waiting for him. The reliever, whose father died of ALS last year, honored him when he came into the game in the ninth inning. Nance said “Field of Dreams” was one of their favorite movies, and he etched his father’s initials into the back of the mound.
The emotional stuff wasn’t limited to family. Earlier in the day, 26 Hall of Famers formed a semi-circle near the mound, and Twins players spent time talking with them before the game. The group included former Twins Joe Mauer, Jim Kaat, Bert Blyleven and Paul Molitor.
Buxton said it was “surreal” to meet Fergie Jenkins in person for the first time, especially after hearing about him from his father growing up.
Royce Lewis said his conversation with Albert Pujols, Barry Bonds and Torii Hunter made his day.
And for rookie Kaelen Culpepper, the whole experience felt almost unreal. He finished his first week in the majors by talking with Pujols, the swing he tried to copy as a kid.
“That’s one way to spend your first week in the bigs - going to Milwaukee playing in front of 42,000 people, and then you come in here and play in the Field of Dreams game, play on Netflix on TV,” Culpepper said. “It’s pretty cool. I don’t want to let that go.”
After the game, the Twins had to make a roster move to get back down to 26 players. Alex Jackson was the odd man out and was designated for assignment.
Jackson had been added to the roster in May after Ryan Jeffers broke his hamate bone. Even after Jeffers returned in July, the Twins kept three catchers around rather than risk losing Jackson, who is out of options.
But Jackson has barely played lately, with just one at-bat this month. Now the Twins run the risk of losing him on waivers, a possible issue if Jeffers or Victor Caratini get hurt, since the organization does not have an established catching option waiting at Triple-A.
The Twins also added pitching depth, agreeing to a minor-league deal with starter Germán Márquez, who will report to Triple-A. Márquez, 31, was recently designated for assignment by the San Diego Padres.
He has spent parts of 11 seasons in the majors and was an All-Star in 2021. A longtime rotation piece for the Rockies, he owns a 4.70 career ERA, though much of that work came in Coors Field, a notoriously hitter-friendly park. This season, he went 4-2 with a 5.26 ERA in 13 games, 10 of them starts, for San Diego.
The Twins and Phillies continue their series on Saturday at Target Field, with Connor Prielipp set to start for Minnesota. Jesús Luzardo will pitch for Philadelphia.
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