Building the Field of Dreams
Kevin Moses ’04 hit a homerun out of the career ballpark when he began work on a baseball field next to the Field of Dreams—a field made famous after the 1989 Kevin Costner movie—in preparation for the first major league baseball (MLB) game in Iowa.
Moses is an account manager for the sports turf division of BrightView Landscapes, MLB’s official field consultant on design, construction, maintenance, and event management for games played outside the 30 league ballparks. Among BrightView’s most recent events, Moses has been part of MLB’s 2018 and 2019 Mexico Series in Monterrey, Mexico, as well as MLB’s 2019 London Series.
As a native Iowan, Moses was happy to work on the Midwest’s version of heaven.
The field in Dyersville hosted the first MLB game in Iowa on Aug. 12, 2021, between the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox. It was the most-watched MLB regular-season game in more than a decade. The White Sox defeated the Yankees 9-8.
“You have one chance to pull an event like this off,” Moses said. “One chance to make a good first impression. It was an amazing event, whether you were there in person or watching on television. It was a really special night, not only for baseball but for the state of Iowa. It took a year to prep it for one event.”
Weather can be the greatest challenge when developing fields or holding events at them. Moses has worked in challenging environments, like the desert in Las Vegas or rainy, humid conditions in Puerto Rico. He says Cornell gave him a background in critical thinking, reading, and writing, which laid a solid educational foundation for his career in sports turf management.
Moses studied history and played baseball for Cornell and has always had a passion for the game, especially the Kansas City Royals. Whenever his family went on a vacation, wherever it was, they made a point of attending a baseball game.
He grew up in Nashua, Iowa, and before school would kick off for the year, his family drove to the Field of Dreams to play catch. The movie was and is his favorite movie.
He never spotted any ghostly players in the cornfields, but he’ll have another chance while working the next game planned for Aug. 11, 2022, between the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds.
