Wichita has a long and colorful history in baseball, starting in 1887 with
the Wichita Braves, to the present-day Texas League farm club of the Kansas City
Royals, the Wichita Wranglers. Not to mention a perennial college power, the
Wichita State Shockers. Lawrence-Dumont Stadium also plays host to one of the
best spectacles in baseball anywhere - The National
Baseball Congress World Series. Baseball is played 24
hours a day for most of the two week August tournament for amateur teams.
Some of the big names in pro baseball have played in games here starting at 2:00
in the morning! Names like Satchel Paige, Joe Garagiola, Ozzie Smith, Reggie
Jackson, even some guy named Mark McGuire played on this field.
The National Baseball Congress and its now well-established World Series were
the brainchild of Wichita sporting goods salesman Hap Dumont in the midst of the
Depression. Dumont hatched the idea after watching a Sunday baseball game
between circus clowns in Wichita for the week and local firemen. While the
circus wasn't allowed to perform on Sunday due to the blue laws of the day, the
clowns in the baseball game drew a large crowd. Dumont figured he had stumbled
onto something. That's when he created the National Semi-Pro Baseball Congress
Kansas State Tournament, played for the first time in 1931 on Island Park in the
middle of the Arkansas River just north of Second Street. He made a few bucks on
the event and made it bigger the next several years, until a cigarette was left
burning in the wooden bleachers of the old park, burning it to the ground (where
were those firemen and clowns). A new park was built, and over the years the
semi-pro aspect worked out of the tourney until it became limited to only
amateur players. It's one of the great scenes in baseball to see fans out in the
early hours of the morning, some wrapped in blankets and snoozing, some wide
awake with a huge cup of coffee.
Outside the walls you can find all sorts of interesting information about
Wichita's place in baseball history. One plaque in particular lists the various
teams that have called the Air Capital home over the years. To claim this
virtual, email me the answer to
this question: What is the name of the 6th team from the bottom of the list, and
what years did they play here? Usual virtual rules please, no pics with the
answer, if no email verification your log may be deleted, etc. Enjoy this unique
bit of baseball history!