"Field of Dreams" premiered 35 years ago this week.
Despite its acclaim, the Kevin Costner movie actually only did $85 million at the box office and just $64 million domestically.
In its defense, 1989 was an incredible year for movies. All these blockbusters came out that year: “Batman,” “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” “Lethal Weapon 2,” Rain Man,” “Dead Poets Society” and “Back to the Future 2.”
For all that it is — the movie site's baseball complex is now owned by Frank Thomas, a tourist destination and a place where MLB games are played — "Field of Dreams" is surprisingly hard to collect — especially when compared to what’s available for “Major League,” “The Natural,” “Bull Durham” and other baseball classics.
So, if you still believe in the power of "if you build it, he will come," what do you buy? Here are five options:
1. James Earl Jones
“Terrence Mann” has signed plenty, but 95 percent of it has been as “Darth Vader.” This is not only a disappointment to "Field of Dreams" people, but also to people who want to collect him as King Jafee Joffer of Zamunda from "Coming to America."
Because Jones also had a role in “The Sandlot,” authenticated signed baseballs are a nice piece and usually cost in the $600 range.
2. Filming tickets
If you are a real buff of this movie, you know it’s based on the book “Shoeless Joe” by W.P. Kinsella. Well, the movie was also called “Shoeless Joe” throughout its filming.
An iconic piece, if you are willing to splurge for it, is a ticket to the final shot of the movie. It’s not known whether the ticket is for the famous ending scene with the players all playing together, but it’s the only ticket I can think of to a last shot of a movie.
If that doesn’t get you, maybe a ticket to the premiere of the movie in Dubuque, Iowa, will.
Ticket seller Justin Sutterfield has both on eBay for a while. They are both a "Buy It Now" at $3,500 each, but there’s likely a deal to be made.
3. Moonlight Graham
The movie, of course, brought acclaim to Archibald “Moonlight” Graham, who only played two innings in the majors with the 1905 Giants and never got to bat.
Graham, who went on to become a doctor, is a virtually impossible autograph. One signed check sold at Mile High for $2,985 in 2018, and a postcard with just his last name signed sold at Love of the Game for $5,000 in 2015. Since then, the price has likely doubled.
One collector named Jonathan Algard searched for a Graham signature for 17 years before finding one in a high school yearbook.
4. "Shoeless Joe"
The chase card for “Shoeless” is the 1915 Cracker Jack, which, for the most part, has continued to go up. In March, a PSA 6 sold for $93,000, nearly doubling the price it sold for in that grade before that ($48,750) in 2020.
5. 1919 Black Sox
“Field of Dreams” humanized the 1919 Black Sox and helps to keep their story alive forever. I love the ticket to Game 1 of the 1919 World Series where, according to lore, Sox pitcher Eddie Cicotte hit the batter to let mafia member Arnold Rothstein know “the fix is in.” A ticket to that game costs in the $10,000 range, depending on the condition.
I feel like there should be a lot more to buy from “Field of Dreams,” especially now that it’s so commercial. In the early 1990s, visitors to the farm in Dyersville, Iowa, could walk with a vial of dirt from the field or a husk of corn.
I'd love to have a stalk of corn preserved in a plexiglass case. Is that too much?
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectible market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.