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This Ohio dad built his 5-year-old son a 'Field of Dreams'

Posted at 4:59 PM, Jul 09, 2019
and last updated 2019-07-09 18:01:53-04

Is this heaven? No, it's ... Ohio.

A father in Brookfield Township, Ohio, was approached by his son two years ago, asking if he could have a baseball field in the backyard. Like any parent would, Jason Kidd just kind of blew him off.

"Then a couple days later, I was thinking about it," Kidd told CNN affiliate WFMJ . "I went out and did some measuring."

Kidd told the station the next thing he knew, he was having trees removed and a hill flattened.

"You should have seen his face light up when they put the clay down and the red top dressing," Kidd said. "I mean he just lit up."

While the field isn't a full-size baseball diamond -- it's intended mainly for wiffle ball -- Kidd thinks it's the perfect size for his 5-year-old son to grow up playing ball.

The project took two years of planning and about $30,000. And there's still more work to be done. Kidd plans on putting up a fence, some foul poles, as well as temporary lighting.

Planning authorities told WFMJ that a neighbor called in anonymously with concerns about run off from the field, but the township doesn't have any ordinances in place that could prevent someone from building something like this on their property.

"I'll be quite honest with you, I don't know if we had zoning, if we'd want to prevent it," Trustee Dan Suttles told WFMJ. "What a great thing."

Like many kids, Suttles said he used to have to find a vacant field to play on if he and his friends wanted to play baseball.

Kidd said that's exactly what he hopes his field will become for his son and his friends. "If it becomes a popular thing, maybe we can do some charity events, a home run derby, or a tournament or something like that," Kidd said. "But really just for the kids, or even the grown-ups, to come out and play some ball."

After all, if you build it, they will come.