By PAUL GOTHAM
Danny Mendick had the chance to live out a movie of his childhood on Thursday night.
The former Monroe Community College and Pittsford Mendon star was among the players who emerged from a cornfield as part of Major League Baseball’s “Field of Dreams” Game.
“Everything about it was incredible,” Mendick said of the game via text message. “The people there, the atmosphere, the weather. It was a once in a lifetime event that I’m glad to have been a part of.”
Played in Dyersville, Iowa near the set of the 1989 film starring Kevin Costner, Mendick and the Chicago White Sox met the New York Yankees.
In the movie, Ray Kinsella (played by Costner) hears a voice and turns his cornfield into a baseball diamond. On Thursday night, Costner appeared in the outfield from the stalks followed by players from both teams including Mendick.
“I’ve watched the movie so many times since I was a kid. You got a calming feeling as you walked through the corn and excitement to see the beautiful field as you brushed the corn to the side.”
Mendick had a pinch hit opportunity to lead off the ninth inning. Two batters later, teammate Tim Anderson provided an appropriate ending to the night with a walk-off home run as the White Sox defeated New York, 9-8.
And Mendick was there at home plate with the rest of the Sox to greet their teammate.
“The walk off was incredible. You couldn’t draw it up any better. It just put a cherry on top of what was an absolutely awesome and memorable night.”
A 22nd-round selection in the 2015 MLB Draft, Mendick has appeared in 59 games for the White Sox this season and has played seven different positions including the opportunity to pitch one inning of relief. He was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte, where he had been on assignment since July 30th, in time for Thursday’s game.
Mendick hit .364 for Monroe’s 2013 Region III Championship team. A member of MCC’s All-Decade Team, he scored 42 runs and finished with a fielding percentage of .981. Mendick finished his collegiate career UMass-Lowell where he helped the River Hawks make the transition to Division I baseball. As a senior, he led UMass-Lowell in RBI (30), doubles (16), total bases (71) and slugging (.455). He was one of 47 finalists for the Brooks Wallace Shortstop of the Year award. He was named first-team All America East.
The game was staged in Iowa as a part of MLB’s initiative to bring the sport to a wider audience. The original ball field on the farm did not work for Thursday night’s purpose.
“It pretty quickly became obvious that the original movie site field wasn’t going to be a fit for something of the magnitude that we were looking to do,” MLB’s chief operations and strategy officer, Chris Marinak told NPR. “And so the good thing was that the property is a huge property and there’s plenty of space, a lot of corn on the property. And so we had a chance to just clear some corn out of another location on the property that was proximate to the original movie site.
Cool!