This ‘special’ game will be difficult to top

This story was excerpted from Scott Merkin’s White Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CHICAGO -- I’ve covered everything from the 2005 White Sox World Series sweep of Houston to being in the stadium on the night the Cubs clinched their 2016 title. There are also many great boxing and college football moments from a career prior to my 20 seasons with MLB.com.

But the Field of Dreams contest between the White Sox and Yankees last Aug. 12 in Dyersville, Iowa, is one of the most memorable I’ve ever witnessed in almost 40 years as a journalist. A few of the White Sox players I spoke with recently echoed a similar sentiment.

“It was probably the best game I’ve ever played,” catcher Seby Zavala said.

“I mean, it was a special game,” outfielder Andrew Vaughn said. “The field they built was immaculate. It was unbelievable. And just that whole experience, the way that game ended.”

For those who have been away from sports reports for the past year, that inaugural Field of Dreams game ended with Tim Anderson’s stalk-off home run into the right-field corn. The dimensions seemed a bit small via the eye test at this beautiful ballpark, but Anderson’s blast was real and spectacular.

As Anderson has pointed out in the past, you can’t talk about that great game without mentioning his great moment. The Yankees rallied for four in the top of the ninth with two-run home runs from Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton off closer Liam Hendriks, but it was Zavala’s one-out walk drawn against Zack Britton that set up Anderson.

Zavala also homered in the fourth against Andrew Heaney.

“Everyone says that game wouldn’t have ended without me,” Zavala said. “But if TA doesn’t hit the home run, that walk doesn’t really mean anything.”

Here’s a sidenote from the Anderson homer -- I heard it but didn’t see it. It was extraordinarily hot in Dyersville that night, but it was close to 50 degrees in the area where pre- and postgame interviews were held. So myself and another reporter, who shall remain nameless because he didn’t know I was mentioning this in my newsletter, decided to cover the bottom of the ninth from that media tent while also getting ready for the postgame.

The crowd erupted, as did the fireworks, after Anderson connected and I turned to my colleague and said, “Tim just walked it off.” The second version of this game arrives Thursday, with the Reds and Cubs, but it will be difficult to top this first experience.

“I’ll never forget all the little towns we passed, and people were outside with signs. It was amazing, truly. Something I’ll never forget,” Vaughn said. “It was like we were in a movie scene.”