MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, Hall of Famer John Smoltz visit Field of Dreams

DYERSVILLE — Commissioners of the big four sports leagues in America get a lot of public guff all the time anyway. But in this case, Rob Manfred was getting heat from a bunch of kids.

The Commissioner of Major League Baseball joined Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz for a short question-and-answer session with local and area youth players seated on a bleacher section at the 'Field of Dreams' movie site Thursday afternoon.

They were mostly benign questions, stuff like 'What was your favorite team growing up?'

'Well, I grew up a Yankees fan,' said Manfred, who originally is from New York state.

That's all it took. One youngster responded with a thumb's down sign, and it didn't take long for quite a few others to join in and add some booing as well.

Manfred curried some favor later when asked if he would be happy if the Chicago Cubs made it to the World Series.

'It'd be really exciting for baseball if they made it to the World Series,' he responded. 'They've got a really good team, don't they?'

Manfred is the first MLB Commissioner to visit the 'Field of Dreams' site. He, Smoltz and MLB Network personality Greg Amsinger were in Eastern Iowa to announce the six cities included on the Baseball Hall of Fame Tour.

It's a mobile exhibit celebrating the sport, including important artifacts, 'cutting-edge technology and digital media,' a virtual reality type of experience that includes an IMAX theatre. Davenport has been selected as the first stop on the tour July 3-10 outside Modern Woodmen Park, home of the Midwest League's Quad Cities River Bandits.

Other cities are Kansas City, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, St. Louis and Las Vegas. The tour will continue in following years.

'This has been in the works for several years,' Manfred said, during a 30-minute-ish program that aired live on MLB Network. 'I think the idea of taking a baseball shrine in Cooperstown (N.Y.) and making it mobile, so that more people around the country have a realistic opportunity to share in the experience, is just a great idea.

'I think, for us, the opportunity to combine technology with an iconic location like Cooperstown was appealing. We thought more appealing, or especially appealing, to young people, and I think important to the game overall.'

Manfred has stated one of his main objectives as commissioner is to make baseball more appealing to youths. They are the future of the game.

That's why there was the Q&A session. Smoltz played catch with 14-year-old Mitchell Brant of Dyersville on the 'Field of Dreams' field, wearing a tiny, old-school glove.

'I didn't know him too well,' Brant said, when asked if he knew of Smoltz, inducted into the HOF last year. 'It was fun to do that. Really fun.'

'I've been places that I never thought were possible, coming from Lansing, Mich., a small city,' Smoltz said. 'I've got a chance to be part of some major sports events, meet the President ... this has been a really cool journey. (Being here) marks it off as another moment I never would have had (without baseball).'

Manfred said it was important to begin the mobile tour a long distance from Cooperstown.

'Someone smarter than I had the idea of starting here and kind of building around a Midwestern core,' he said. 'That's a good idea. You don't want to be too close to Cooperstown, (be) somewhere around the center of our country. But our commitment is to bring it to other cities around the country as we move forward.

'I think that baseball has always been generational. The most important and most fundamental obligation for those of us who are fortunate enough to work in the game is to make sure the game is passed onto the next generation the same way it was passed on to us.'

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