Field of Dreams becomes the Hall of Fame, as 26 members come out of the corn for Phillies-Twins game

DYERSVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Major League Baseball came back to the Field of Dreams carrying a big piece of Cooperstown.

The pregame pomp before the Minnesota Twins played the Philadelphia Phillies — adjacent to the farmland where the 1989 fantasy was filmed — featured 26 members of the Hall of Fame emerging from the outfield corn just as the ghost players did in the movie.

With some of the loudest cheers saved for former Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt and former Twins catcher Joe Mauer, the capacity crowd of about 8,000 at the newly constructed ballpark in northeast Iowa soaked up the surreal atmosphere as the aged stars strolled into the infield for proper introductions.

Fireworks were launched from the cornfield during the national anthem, and Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber followed with his own big bang — a stalk shot to right on Twins starter Taj Bradley's third pitch of the game.

After stealing the show at the inaugural 2021 event, which was played on the same footprint at a temporary setup that also hosted the 2022 game, Kevin Costner did not appear.

But the star of the film — as the restless farmer Ray Kinsella who reconnects with his late father by playing catch on his front-yard ballfield — narrated the pregame video that helped pump some old-guard nostalgia through the new-school broadcast on global streaming giant Netflix.

Both teams emerged from the corn together to take their places along the lines like on opening day, and Twins All-Star Byron Buxton — who came off the injured list in the afternoon to play — took the microphone to evoke a line from James Earl Jones, who played the author Terence Mann in the movie.

“The one constant through all the years has been baseball," Buxton said before Schwarber followed with a brief script on an idyllic late-summer night after heavy rain moved through the area earlier in the day.

Then came the legends, and living ones at that, unlike those wool-clad lads in the movie.

Schmidt and Steve Carlton wore Phillies uniforms along with Jim Kaat, who played for both teams. Mauer and Bert Blyleven donned Twins jerseys. The others — Andruw Jones, Harold Baines, Fred McGriff, Adrián Beltré, Andre Dawson, Larry Walker, Cal Ripken Jr., Iván Rodríguez, Jim Thome, Scott Rolen, Tony Pérez, Tony La Russa, Jeff Kent, Fergie Jenkins, Joe Torre, CC Sabathia, Billy Wagner, Rollie Fingers, Lee Smith and Trevor Hoffman — helped form a half-ring around the diamond to represent about one-third of the Cooperstown contingent that's still alive.

This was the largest such gathering at a ballpark, not including the annual ceremonies at the Hall of Fame in upstate New York, since the All-Star Game in 2008 that feted the final season at old Yankee Stadium.

Before the game, Buxton played catch with his 12-year-old son on the nearby movie site that remains open to the public for no cost on non-event days. Twins manager Derek Shelton did the same with his 78-year-old father, a former educator who coached him on his high school baseball team. Shelton later complained that his arm was in weaker shape.

“You don’t get old enough that an experience like that is not emotional to be able to do something with your father,” Shelton said.

Phillies manager Don Mattingly, whose son just happens to be the club's general manager, found himself harkening back to Indiana childhood ballgames with his brothers upon arrival on the team bus.

“This place reminds me of when I was a kid,” Mattingly said. "You’d go down a dirt road, and all of sudden you’d see a cornfield and then there’d be a field there."

Both teams wore throwback uniforms — the Twins in home threads from their first season in 1961 and the Phillies in road jerseys circa 1940 — in step with the hand-operated scoreboard in right field.

The permanent ballpark built for all kinds of events — including the opportunity to host MLB games on a recurring basis — also has plenty of amenities with the video board in left field, a state-of-the-art sound system and, of course, indoor plumbing.

The feel of the farm was just as strong as the buzz of the ballpark, with natural sponsor John Deere pledging $100,000 per home run hit to hunger-relief organization Feeding America.

The special environment didn't erase the circumstance of the stretch run of the regular season, though, with both the Twins and Phillies in the thick of their respective wild-card races.

“We’re not in Minnesota for three days," Phillies star Bryce Harper said, "but we’re still playing the Twins three times and we've still got to win some games."

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jonathan Bowlan talks with Paul Scherrman, right, of Farley, Iowa, before a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins at the Field of Dreams movie site, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Dyersville, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Minnesota Twins manager Derek Shelton walks off the field after a team photo before a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies at the Field of Dreams movie site, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Dyersville, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Minnesota Twins pitcher Dean Kremer poses for a photo in a cornfield before a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies at the Field of Dreams movie site, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Dyersville, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Scoreboard workers look on before a baseball game between the Minnesota Twins and the Philadelphia Phillies at the Field of Dreams movie site, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Dyersville, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Players walk onto the field before a baseball game between the Minnesota Twins and the Philadelphia Phillies at the Field of Dreams movie site, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Dyersville, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

A newborn with a severe heart defect is at the center of a legal battle between a California couple and a surrogate who flew from Alaska to Texas to give birth in a case that has drawn the attention of anti-abortion groups and GOP leaders.

McKenna West, the surrogate, gave birth Wednesday to a boy with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a life-threatening heart condition. West, who is a nurse, said the couple had wanted to end the pregnancy at 20 weeks, after consulting with doctors about the diagnosis.

The case quickly garnered national attention after Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened and a judge in Dallas ordered two hospitals to ensure they provide life-sustaining care and that the baby remain in Texas until at least a hearing in late August.

The Los Angeles-based couple, Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, say West violated the surrogacy contract, and they obtained a restraining order that prevented West from seeing or holding the child after he was born, according to an attorney for the surrogate.

Ahmed and Gilkar were in Dallas, Texas, with the newborn as he receives medical care, according to the couple's attorney. West and her supporters have called the child Gabriel, but in court filings, the couple has called the boy Rumi.

Here’s what to know about the case and surrogacy law in the U.S.

West entered an agreement with the couple through Worldwide Surrogacy Specialists, LLC in August 2025. In court documents, the couple argues that West broke a surrogacy contract and that a California court determined she has no rights to legal or physical custody of the child.

West’s lawyers have alleged the couple spent weeks pressuring West to seek an abortion after learning of the diagnosis. With legal support from the conservative Christian organization Alliance Defending Freedom, West petitioned a Dallas court to give her custody over the child two days before she gave birth.

According to court documents in Alaska, the couple claimed West agreed with the decision to end the pregnancy after the diagnosis but then changed her mind and cut off contact.

“After heartbreaking consultations with medical providers and their own research about the suffering and quality of life HLHS babies endure, A.B. and C.D. (birth parents) made the difficult decision to terminate the pregnancy,” a filing from the parents’ attorneys reads. “It is undisputed that West initially agreed and that she herself made the initial appointment.”

Other court documents show the couple at one point chose to have West deliver in California and their child begin lifelong treatment from there.

“West is harming Rumi by relocating to Texas, requiring him to be born in Texas, away from his parents and the specialized cardiac team in Los Angeles that will provide his lifelong care,” the court filing states. “Her actions are forcing Rumi to begin treatment (including critical heart surgery) in one state and be transferred to another.”

Live Action, an anti-abortion group based in Arlington, Virginia, paid for West and her two children to fly to Texas, which bans abortion, to seek medical care, according to Noah Brandt, a spokesperson for the group.

Days before West gave birth, Paxton said his office was intervening in the case to “protect baby Gabriel's life” by notifying UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas of legal obligations to provide life-saving care, and accused Gilkar and Ahmed of refusing to consent to life-saving surgery for the heart issue.

The couple has denied those claims and their attorney, Lee Budner, accused Paxton of turning a family tragedy into “political theater.”

The couple's “worst fear,” Ahmed wrote in court filings, was that West “may try to keep our child from us after she gives birth to him.”

Surrogacy isn't regulated on a federal level and each state has its own laws, which can leave room for gaps in interpretation, experts say.

Maya Shulman, a California attorney and professor who has worked on surrogacy cases for more than 15 years, said she rarely sees cases like this. She emphasized the importance of contracts in surrogacy agreements, adding that many have ironclad details about termination and thorough details about what's entailed.

A surrogate is not a parent, Shulman said, and in this case, the baby's health had to be considered.

“You need to think about the quality of life for the baby,” Shulman said in reference to the heart defect.

In California where she practices, a court would likely honor the surrogacy contract, Shulman said, recognizing the couple as the parents with custody of the child.

Hypoplastic left heart syndrome is a condition where one side of the heart is underdeveloped and prevents normal blood flow. If untreated, the condition causes severe symptoms such as trouble breathing, skin rashes, weak pulse and ashen or bluish skin.

The condition requires a set of three surgeries. The initial surgery, the Norwood procedure, is usually done within days or weeks of birth, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Only about 925 babies in the U.S. are born with HLHS each year, according to the CDC.

Children's Medical Center is shown in Dallas, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)