Iowa

• Capital: Des Moines, IA
• Largest City: Des Moines, IA
• Area: 56,272 sq mi
  • Rank: 26
• Population (2010): 3,046,355
  • Rank: 30
• Admission to Union: December 28, 1846
• Time Zone: Central

Iowa is located in the central United States, with the Mississippi River forming its eastern border and the Missouri River its western one. The state's economy is focused on agriculture, largely growing corn and wheat, and it only features mid-sized cities.

Iowa-born players include Hall of Famers Cap Anson, Dave Bancroft, Fred Clarke, Red Faber, Bob Feller and Dazzy Vance.

Iowa is the site of the baseball field used in the movie Field of Dreams, which takes place in the state. On August 13, 2020, the Field of Dreams Game, the first major league game to be played in Iowa - not counting the National Association or neutral site games staged by various Negro Leagues - was scheduled to take place next to that field, located in Dyersville, IA, although it was postponed until August 12, 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. There was a National Association team based in Keokuk, IA in 1875 - the Keokuk Westerns - who played 8 home games before disbanding. The Negro Leagues played official games in the state capital Des Moines, IA, in Davenport, IA, in Council Bluffs, IA and in various smaller towns, not to mention countless exhibition games.

Iowa has hosted a number of minor league teams as well. The state's largest city, Des Moines, has hosted AAA baseball for decades, while the Midwest League includes a number of teams from the state. The independent American Association includes a team in Sioux City, IA. There was also an Iowa State League and a short-lived Iowa-South Dakota League in the 1900s.

Further Reading

• Don Doxsie: Iowa Baseball Greats: Sixteen Major Leaguers Who Were in the Game for Life, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2015. ISBN 978-0-7864-9894-9
• W.P. Kinsella: Shoeless Joe, Turtleback Books, St. Louis, MO, 1999 (originally published in 1982). ISBN 978-0785729020
• W.P. Kinsella: The Iowa Baseball Confederacy, Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin, New York, NY, 2003 (originally published in 1986). ISBN 978-0618340804
• John Shorey and Kevin Warneke: "Major League Baseball in Iowa: Iowa's History of Hosting Negro League Contests", The National Pastime, SABR, 51, 2023, pp. 63-68.
• Joan Wendl Thomas: Baseball in Northwest Iowa, Images of Baseball, Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, SC, 2017. ISBN 9781467125147