Jon Beggerly, President of the Ft. Worth MSBL, Plays in Field of Dreams Tourney in Dyersville, Iowa

Compiled by Steve LaMontia-Carlentini, MSBL Director of Communications

Jon Beggerly is the President of the Ft. Worth MSBL and recently visited the Field of Dreams movie site in Dyersville, Iowa, to play in the Field of Dreams Sandlot Invitational tournament.  Let’s let Jon share his experience in his own words.

“I wanted to share a few highlights from our recent trip to Iowa.  Our league partnered with Friendly Baseball (Mark Zubizarreta) to take a group of 60 players to play on the Field of Dreams movie site.  Friendly Baseball offers a softened version of the game designed to help anyone play, similar to the growing sandlot baseball movement across the country.

A local designer created custom uniforms for our four teams, inspired by historic Iowa baseball organizations: The Oaks, Panthers, Cyclones, and the Des Moines Boosters.

Following a tradition rooted in our strong local veteran community, we handed out commemorative coins for the event.

Each team played four games over two days in fantastic weather. The final game was played under the lights.  Afterward, Zubi and his crew hosted a Friendly Baseball event, inviting all our supporters—spouses, parents, siblings, and kids—onto the field to play.

I also wanted to highlight one special story: Dewey Harrison, one of our Ft. Worth MSBL founding members, hung up his spikes after his last game of the tournament. He managed to play all nine positions over the two-day event. There wasn’t a dry eye at that backstop at the end of the game.”