Baseball comes to Shawnee

When our oldest son was on a baseball team the whole family was excited. The Shawnee Police Chief--Charlie Stump-- decided to coach a team. The team was made up of most of my Cub Scout den and a few other boys who attended Nieman School. The police chief lived on 66th Terrace and had five children of his own. None were the right age or sex for the team. The team practiced on the area behind Hocker Grove Junior High. They wore T-shirts. They were called "The Bullets" and had a glove. That was their equipment. When Steve played his first real game we did not want to miss it. Scott was just born so we took his car bed out of the car and put it on the ground. Then I put an umbrella over him to protect him from baseballs. They did not hit the ball often so it was adequate at the time. I shudder a little now as I think about it. One boy never caught a ball but he always waved at it as it went over. Steve's sisters were very attentive. We went to a great many games over the years and the ball field moved west. There is a ball park named in honor of the Police Chief called Stump Field in western Shawnee. By the time Scott played ball his older brother was his first coach. Girls play ball now which they did not then but they seem to lean towards soccer,