The Chicago Cubs faced the Cincinnati Reds in the 2022 Field of Dreams game. Beloved and deceased Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray ‘sang’ “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch. It was memorable.

The (annual?) Field of Dreams game is an opportunity to make a mid-August regular season Major League Baseball game a bit more exciting. Last year’s White Sox Yankees game was damn near close to perfect. It featured two of baseball’s best teams and had a storybook ending (if you’re a White Sox fan). This year’s game wasn’t quite as exciting.

The 2022 Cubs and Reds are not good teams. Last night’s mid-August game will not mean much to either team. Most of the marquee names are gone. All of the drama is gone. But it was still nice to watch two team’s playing in a cornfield sponsored by GEICO.

The film Field of Dreams is about ghosts and nostalgia. Ghosts are cool. I’m a fan of ghosts. But nostalgia is a dangerous drug. Nostalgia allows certain fans to think it was better back in the day. Back in the day is almost universally worse. It’s definitely worse. Baseball was an inferior product until April 15, 1947. It wasn’t even a fairly good product until July 21, 1959 when the Red Sox decided to be the final club to enter the modern era. So, I’m not a fan of nostalgia, especially when it comes to baseball. The Field of Dreams games do not give me the warm fuzzies. But I do like aspects of it.

I like ghosts. And hologram technology isn’t exactly great. There hasn’t been a ton of progress since Hologram Tupac ‘performed’ with Snoop Dogg at Coachella 2012 so the occasional modern human hologram looks more like a ghost than a stranger entering the uncanny valley.

I’m a fan of ghosts. And I’m a fan of traditions. Some are great. The seventh-inning stretch is great. It amps up an involved crowd during exciting games. It gives people a chance to sing during boring games. From Little League to game 7 of the World Series, most every level of baseball has a song sung by crowds about being at a baseball game. It’s great. But last night was not great.

Hologram Harry Caray should not have sung “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at the 2022 MLB at Field of Dreams presented by GEICO game because the Chicago Cubs were the away team. That’s it.

Harry didn’t lean out of the booth, swaying with an outstretched arm holding a microphone to the crowd to sing “Cubbbb-bieeeees” rather than “Hoooooooome teeeeeeeeam” when the Cubs were on the road because the song is about rooting for the home team. The Cubs were not the home team last night.

If and when the Chicago Cubs ever play another Field of Dreams game and the Cubs are the home team, I’m all for Hologram Harry Caray singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch. The Cubs still play recordings of Caray singing it during his last season with the team in 1997 (Harry passed February 18, 1998) at Wrigley Field. At this point, most of the 20-somethings in Wrigley’s bleachers have no memory of an alive Harry Caray. So why not bring out the Hologram Harry? 

Hologram Harry Caray trending is a great thing. It’ll lead to a new generation of baseball fans learn about being a Bud Man, getting fired from your job for sleeping with your boss’ daughter-in-law and understanding why a rain delay can be a good thing. 

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