Matt "Kirby" Mullenbach did something at yesterday's (August 10, 2022) Field of Dreams baseball game that has never been done before. Matt is a native Iowan who was born in Urbandale, Iowa, who pitches for the Cedar Rapids Kernels, and kind of surprisingly Matt, who grew up here, had never been to Dyersville before the game that was played last night, according to the MLB Network Facebook Page.

His family are big Minnesota Twins fans and his father Dan wanted to name him Kirby, after the all-time great Twin baseball player, Kirby Pucket. His mother, Barb, who is also a Twins fan and apparently had a discussion with Dan, who eventually lost that battle and had to settle for that being Matt's middle name.

What makes this story even more unique is his parents happened to get engaged in Dyersville. His father Dan has worked as an umpire for a long time in Iowa and was in attendance watching his son pitch in the 5th inning of last night's ball game. Dan was interviewed by the MLB Network while his son was on the mound and really made for some incredible T.V.

Dan was asked about the uniqueness of Iowa baseball and answered that it's the only state to feature the baseball season during the summer. When asked about getting engaged in Dyersville he talked about the town being a perfect halfway point for him and his eventual wife to meet up on weekends. He ended that story with the joke "a few beers later we were engaged" and when asked what he would say to his son after the game, he replied, "walks will haunt you at any level" as he nervously watched his son work through the 5th inning. Talk about a guy made for the limelight.

His son Matt did end up walking 1 batter and another batter reached base but he pitched a scoreless 5th inning. Matt made history as he became the first-ever Iowan, to pitch in a professional game, at the Field of Dreams site.

What an incredible night for Matt and his family, players on both teams, and also what an incredible night for the state of Iowa. To be put in the national spotlight for a minor league baseball game was pretty amazing to watch. The sold-out crowd of 8,000 watched as the Kernels did fall to the Quad Cities River Bandits, 7-2 but overall was a pretty awesome experience for everyone involved.

Congratulations to Matt Mullenbach as he is now in a category of 1. The only person in history to do something (so far) must have a pretty cool ring to it. I'd be bragging about that around the Thanksgiving table for as long as I could.

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