My Field of Dreams
by Michael Saffer
October 9, 2021
***
Last night I returned to the baseball field behind Fair Lawn High School for the first time since 1996 to umpire a game.
My dreams of being a ballplayer ended with high school graduation but not my love of the game. I have been umpiring for decades, but I never returned to the field where I had last played ball with the hopes and dreams still remote possibilities.
Finally, last night, I returned.
Kevin Costner was not there. He didn’t have to be.
There were no cornfields. There didn’t have to be.
As I looked over at the people sitting in lawn chairs watching the game past the third base dugout, I’m pretty sure I saw my dad and grandparents in those chairs. I know it was dark and a little hazy, but I’m pretty sure they were sitting there just like they did for all my games on that field 25 years ago.
I’m pretty sure I heard Joey Desimone behind the backstop asking me if I want to get pizza and watch Major League after the game.
For one night, last night…
this was my Field of Dreams.
