-picture from KARE11.com


On the Field of Dreams
Found this today on the local news here in the Twin Cities. Baseball has an ability to go where few other things in life seem to be able to go. Here's the story:

Wednesday at the Metrodome was a day to honor dreams.

In the movie, “Field of Dreams,” Kevin Costner meets a kindly old man on the streets of Chisholm, Minnesota and asks, “Are you Moonlight Graham?” The old man turns with a surprised look and says, “Nobody has called me Moonlight Graham in 50 years!”

It was June 29, 1905 when a rookie New York Giant played just a half inning in the major leagues and only in the field. Archibald Graham never got the opportunity to bat.

Graham then left the game and decided to change careers and go to medical school. He spent the rest of his life on Minnesota’s Iron Range as the school doctor in Chisholm.

Veda Ponikvar is 85-year-old, but she remembers him well as the man who gave her an inoculation for scarlet fever. She was only a third grader at the time.

Archie Graham died in 1965 after executing a groundbreaking study of his patient’s blood pressures. Ponikvar says the generous man, who bought countless blue hats for his wife Alicia, was ahead of his time in medicine.

“(He) believed in a wellness program back in 1916 and 17 when it was absolutely unheard of.”

In the Hollywood film, the ghost of Moonlight Graham finally fulfills his dream. He gets to bat against a major league pitcher on Costner’s Iowa field.

Wednesday, at the Metrodome, the real man was honored by the Minnesota Twins with “Moonlight Graham Day. Every fan at the game received a replica baseball card bearing the only picture known to exist of Moonlight Graham in a Giants uniform.
--from KARE11.com