(JOPLIN, Mo., AP) — After nearly 50 years, professional baseball returns this week to Joe Becker Stadium in Joplin.
The Joplin Blasters, a new member of the American Association of Independent Baseball, will play an exhibition game Tuesday. It will be the first game since a nearly $5 million project that mostly rebuilt the stadium. The first official game is Thursday.
The stadium was once the home of a New York Yankees farm club, and players such as Mickey Mantle, Ty Cobb and Stan Musial played there. Professional baseball left Joplin in the early 1950s. Since then, Missouri Southern, high schools and other baseball teams have used the stadium.
The Joplin Globe reports (http://bit.ly/1c2kvpr) final touches are being made on some parts of the stadium but the construction project is 95 percent completed.
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Information from: The Joplin (Mo.) Globe, http://www.joplinglobe.com
The stadium was once the home of a New York Yankees farm club, and players such as Mickey Mantle, Ty Cobb and Stan Musial played there. Professional baseball left Joplin in the early 1950s. Since then, Missouri Southern, high schools and other baseball teams have used the stadium.
The Joplin Globe reports (http://bit.ly/1c2kvpr) final touches are being made on some parts of the stadium but the construction project is 95 percent completed.
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Information from: The Joplin (Mo.) Globe, http://www.joplinglobe.com
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