“I’ve created something totally illogical.”
When Jerry Davich from the Chicago Tribune asked me the title of the painting that I did for my dad after the Cubs won the World Series I told him, "It’s called Field of Dreams. If you paint it, they will come." Much like Ray Kinsella, I heard a voice on November 2nd, 2016. “Ease his pain.”
“Field of Dreams” 1/1 Crystal NFT
"He never got to play baseball so he tried to make his son play it for him.”, Ray says to Terrance Mann. That was me as an 8-year-old boy. I was afraid of the ball. But my Dad had a pain of dreams he’d never actualized, so to me, baseball wasn’t part of the American Dream, it was a nightmare. We wouldn’t play catch, he would throw the ball AT me with the fury of all of his unrealized potential. I was terrified. “Don’t be afraid of the ball! Don’t stand there like a tree!” I can still hear the echoes. The more scared I was, the angrier he got... the harder he threw... the louder he screamed. That’s one of the facets so many people didn’t realize was behind the emotion in my dad opening his Christmas gift that they saw on SportsCenter’s Top Plays.
The painting on SportsCenter’s Top Plays
The original “Field of Dreams” 30x40 painting that I did for my dad.
On November 2nd, 2016 I heard a voice, “Ease his pain.”. The painting was a symbol of love cleaning up the mess. It was a totem to hope and forgiveness. It was a portal into a dream. For fans, there’s nothing better than a golden Chicago Cubs moment, and this one here is among our best. It not only healed a deep wound between a father and his son, but it led me to charity work with the Cubs players and owner Tom Ricketts. The energy in my painting’s gravitational field attracted people like that farm in Iowa.
In one night, I was able to raise enough money selling $20 prints of his painting to be honored as the Top Individual Fundraiser for the Special Olympics and then given the opportunity to throw out the first pitch for the Cubs minor league team in South Bend, Indiana.
Dad throwing out the first pitch at the South Bend Cubs game.
I didn’t know the painting would bring us to the crystalline moment of having our final catch. My dad will never throw a baseball again, he's too weak in his spirit and his body has followed. He couldn't see well enough to catch so I would run the ball back to place it gently in his hand. His arm was so weak that he couldn't throw more than 5 feet on his first attempt. Later that day I wept as the experience flooded over me. The roles reversed. I was the father and he was the fragile little boy. Only I had shown him grace, love, and patience. It was how he was supposed to treat me as a child. I changed the past from the present through the power of forgiveness and gave him the opportunity to throw out the 1st pitch for the Cubs. He threw his last baseball from a mound that he saw himself on as a boy. His Field of Dreams.
The last catch I ever had with my Dad.
I learned about the Field of Dreams regular season game in Dyersville between the White Sox and Yankees in 2021 months after it happened. The synchronicity of it all set my imagination on fire and gave me the same goosebumps I felt when the ball snapped into Rizzo’s glove ending a 108-year drought for the “Loveable Losers”. When I discovered that the Cubs were playing in 2022 I heard Terrance Manns words... "There comes a time when all the cosmic tumblers have clicked into place and the universe opens itself up for a few seconds to show you what's possible.". With the Cubs playing the Field of Dreams game on August 11th, 2022, I see the universe opening up. I created a portal into a dream with that painting and realized it was the same voice calling me to create the NFT and bring this timeless experience onto the lasting record of the blockchain. In pricing this NFT, I’ve considered the large sums of money I’ve been offered for the original painting. But when my dad passes, the painting will be given to my brother. It isn’t for sale. It stays in the family.
With only 1 of these crystal statues ever being made, this NFT is the next best thing. The Digital Original NFT comes with the one-of-one crystal statue that links back to its record on the blockchain and captures the magnetic field of the painting etched into crystal. A perfect symbol of art and technology merging with magic. It's a prism capturing angles of a dream. A moment frozen in time.
I also have open edition prints available in my store as well as a canvas Limited Edition that is hand embellished at the size of the 30x40 original. Email - me@jjweinberg.com for details on the canvas or questions on the NFT crystal. The NFT Crystal also comes with a Limited Edition canvas.