Someone mentioned baseball season yesterday. Springfields Memorial Stadium was located near the NW corner of Kansas and Grand, now on CU property. The aerial view below shows the general area with the POSSIBLE grandstand of the ball park and field (???). Memorial Stadium was home to the Western Association Springfield Cubs (1948 and 1950) and Ball Park Tavern (811 S. West, about 1/3 mile west of the field) was opened about the same time to cater to baseball fans and players (Mickey Mantle drank there, and drank, and drank). Bob Spook Speake (born in Springfield, graduated from Senior High and SW MO State) played for the Springfield Cubs, the Chicago Cubs, and the San Francisco Giants in the 50s. In his career Speake went 2 for 4 (2 homers) against left-handed hall-of-famer Warren Spahn, and he was 3 for 12 in his career (3 homers) against left-handed hall-of-famer Sandy Koufax. Corrections or additions anyone? baseball-reference/players/s/speakbo01.shtml
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 15:54:38 +0000
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