CHICAGO — Less than two months after the Chicago White Sox won the first major league game played a few rows of corn away from Iowa’s iconic “Field of Dreams” movie set, a venture led by Sox Hall of Famer Frank Thomas has bought a controlling interest in the company that owns the property, the company announced Thursday.
The company, Go the Distance Baseball, did not reveal the price of the transaction, which includes the movie set in Dyersville, Iowa, the nearby field where the Sox and Yankees played Aug. 12 and surrounding property that has been envisioned as a center for youth baseball tournaments.
Thomas will be CEO of the venture, while former Sox executive and Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Dan Evans will serve as chief operating officer, the company said.
The property began its shift from low-key tourist attraction to ambitious, commercialized venture when Denise Stillman, a health care consultant and entrepreneur from Oak Lawn, Ill., led a group of investors who purchased the set and surrounding 193 acres in 2011 with the idea of turning it into a mecca for youth baseball tournaments.
The company fought off lawsuits from neighboring property owners unhappy with the idea of more traffic and visitors in farm country. Stillman launched the idea of playing a major league game at the site but died of cancer in 2018, just before the deal was finalized.
Following the success of August’s game, won by Sox shortstop Tim Anderson’s walk-off home run, Major League Baseball announced that the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds will play at the field next year.
