Brett Mandel - Is This Heaven?: The Magic of the Field of Dreams

Brett H. Mandel is a writer and consultant in Philadelphia where he is engaged in civic activism and government reform efforts. Previously, Brett served as the executive director of the National Education Technology Funding Corporation, a private, nonprofit organization that worked to help local public school districts access cost-effective financing for school construction and renovation. Brett also served as executive director of Philadelphia Forward, a citizens organization promoting tax, government, and ethics reform; and as director of financial and policy analysis in the City of Philadelphia Office of the Controller. Brett received his undergraduate degree from Hamilton College and his graduate degree in governmental administration from the University of Pennsylvania.

Brett is the primary author of Philadelphia: A New Urban Direction (Saint Josephs University Press, 1999), a vision of Philadelphias likely future without change and a comprehensive plan designed to make Philadelphia a preferred place to live, work, and visit. The book received the National Association of Local Government Auditors Special Project Award. Another book, Minor Players, Major Dreams (University of Nebraska Press, 1997), written from his perspective as an author signed to a Minor League Baseball players contract, tells the inside story of Minor League life. His next book, Philadelphia: Corrupt and Consented , about the citys struggle with municipal corruption, is due to be published in 2021.

A lifelong Philadelphian, Brett is the commissioner of the Greater Philadelphia Mens Adult Baseball League and the board chair of the Circadium: School of Contemporary Circus, Americas first school of higher education for circus arts. Brett lives in the Fitler Square neighborhood of Philadelphia with his wife and three children.

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Copyright 2002 by Brett H. Mandel
Lyons Press Paperback Edition 2020

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ISBN 978-1-4930-5510-4 (paper : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-4930-5722-1 (electronic)

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If you build it, he will come.

The Voice

The film Field of Dreams debuted in Dubuque, Iowa, in April 1989. Just three months later, twelve-year-old Matt Bohn died in the crash of United Airlines Flight 232 across the state in Sioux City. Matts flight crashed into an anonymous Iowa cornfield, but a very special Iowa cornfield would help his family cope with the tragedy, just as it would touch the lives of countless others. Built to bring a work of fiction to life as a film, the Field of Dreams just outside Dyersville, Iowa, has been transformed from a movie set into a pop culture mecca and secular hallowed ground.

When Matt boarded his plane, nobodynot his family, not the Field of Dreams filmmakers, not the owners of the Field of Dreams siteknew what the future would bring. The little leaguer had been on his way from Denver to Pittsburgh to return home to his parents after visiting family in Colorado. Shortly into the flight, an engine exploded, and flying shrapnel severed all three of the jets hydraulic lines. The pilots were left with little control over their aircraft. In dire peril, the pilots used engine thrust from the jets remaining engines to steady the flight and prepared for an emergency landing at the Sioux Gateway Airport.

Emergency personnel assembled to meet the imperiled flight. The hundreds who gathered prepared for the worst and held their collective breath as Flight 232 began its descent. For a moment, it seemed as if the crippled jet would land safely, but its right wing tip touched down first, causing the aircraft to burst into flames, cartwheel off the runway, and break into three pieces.

Somehow, 184 travelers survived. Matt and his grandmother, Lena Blaha, who was traveling with him, were among the 112 who perished in the fiery disaster.

Back in western Pennsylvania, Matts father Jim, mother Cindy, and sister Stephanie drove to the airport to meet the flight, unaware of the drama that was unfolding in the Midwest. Arriving at the Pittsburgh airport, the Bohns saw a local television news van and learned that a plane was down in Iowa. They had no reason to be concerned until they noticed that Matts flight was not listed on the monitor that tracked arrivals.

While Matts family quickly discovered that it was Matts flight that had crashed, they were unable to learn whether Matt and his grandmother were on board or whether they had been harmed. The Bohns had to return home unsure whether Matt and Lena had survived and wondering how the coming news could alter their lives.

Hours of frantic calls, anxious wondering, and prayer brought no answers. A Sioux City hospital reported that a boy who fit Matts description was being treated in one of its wards, but positive identification was not yet possible. Jim Bohn was desperate for news. Finally, the airline agreed to fly him to Iowa, but because he could not find a convenient flight, he accepted a ride on a charter flight from the same local television station that first told him of the crash. He left unsure of whether he was going to Iowa to help care for Matt or take on the grim duty of claiming his remains.

Jim was a high school physical education teacher who served as a coach for his sona blossoming second basemanon the baseball diamond. He was used to young people counting on him for guidance and looking to him as a role model. He left his home, hoping his son could count on him that day.

When he arrived in Iowa, Jim went from hospital to hospital, trying to find his son among the survivors, but Matt was not among any of the recovering passengers. Jim knew the awful truth. Matt was the first of the victims to be identified and was released to his father.

Jims visit to Iowa lasted just three days and two nights, but it changed his life forever. He was shattered. But amid the tragic circumstances surrounding his visit, Jim found a bit of solace. Just weeks before, the Bohn family celebrated Matts birthday by going to see Field of Dreams . The films tale of the power of dreams and a special Iowa cornfield brought the family together.

At their home, Cindy and Stephanie Bohn sat in Matts room staring at the ticket stub from the familys night at the movie, freshly recovered from Cindys purse. The ticket for Field of Dreams was dated May 7, 1989. It had been Matts twelfth and last birthday.

In Iowa, Jim was housed in a college dormitory where he spent much of his time staring out his window, thinking about the pastand the future. Amid his familys suffering, Jim had an inspiration: When I was out in Iowa and I looked out the dorm room window and saw a baseball field bordered by a cornfield, it just all hit me.