Carthage residents celebrate Tigers' return to home park

Mar. 27—CARTHAGE, Mo. — The mood surrounding high school baseball in Carthage couldn't have been more different Wednesday from the spring of 2023.

A year ago, the Tigers and fans were recovering from the shock of learning that their home field, Carl Lewton Stadium, was unsafe to host baseball games because of failing concrete in the 86-year-old structure that surrounded the field and provided seating, bathrooms and storage.

The Tigers ended up playing 2023 home games in Joplin, and there really wasn't a plan to build a place for them to play in Carthage anytime soon. Plans had been drawn up to build a stadium at Carthage High School, but voters in April 2023 voted down a bond issue to build the stadium and a new performing arts center on the high school campus.

This spring, the mood for the Tigers is upbeat.

For one thing, a fundraising campaign — led by a $2.5 million donation from the Steadley Trust and including a number of smaller gifts — has allowed the Carthage School District to break ground on a new baseball field at the high school. That won't be available for play until 2025.

In the meantime, the city of Carthage has spent $90,000 out of $150,000 in use-tax proceeds for repairs and improvements at Carl Lewton Stadium, including concrete work, new electrical service, new bleachers, a new scoreboard and other things needed to reopen it in time for the Tigers to play one final season in their ancestral home.

"It's great to have them back in town so we can get the team spirit and the town spirit back in place," Jerry Spry said as he sat in the stands waiting for the first pitch of Wednesday's game against the Father Tolton Trailblazers of Columbia.

"You can see the excitement around here," Spry said. "The excitement about the whole season has been very high and just very glad to see it back here in Carthage, especially here at Carl Lewton Stadium."

Carl Lewton Stadium was originally built as a Great Depression-era Works Progress Administration project in the late 1930s and was home field for two minor league baseball teams in the KOM (Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri) League in the 1940s and 1950s.

It was originally built as an amphitheater and converted to a baseball stadium soon after it was built.

On Wednesday, the Carthage Tigers returned to the rebuilt Carl Lewton Stadium, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted by the city and the Carthage Chamber of Commerce.

Carthage Parks and Recreation Director Abi Almandinger said there are still a few things to be finished, but the field is in good shape and everything is in place to bring baseball back to the field where Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial and other future Major Leaguers played in the early 20th century.

"We're thrilled to have been able to renovate it and get it ready for the Tigers to play at least one more season here," Almandinger said. "We're glad to have been able to deliver on what we promised. We were committed to keeping it a baseball field. It'll be used for Little League, the city has taken on the Little League program this year as well, so we always have requests and needs for practice and for field usage, so it will continue to be a baseball field as we've said from the beginning."

Mayor Dan Rife called the renovation a good use of city money.

"I think it's money well spent, all day long," Rife said. "And it's going to be a baseball field for as long as anyone wants to play baseball. That's big for the school. It helps them out. My understanding is that the field has never been in better shape. It's going to be a win-win."

John Carnes, a fan in the stands at Carl Lewton Stadium on Wednesday, said the 2023 season was a "lost season."

"Some fans didn't travel to see the games because they were other places," Carnes said. "We didn't hear anything about plans for the future, that was the problem. When it came out that they wanted to tear the stands down a lot of people, like me, didn't really care for it. But we have to move on with the times, and I think the city has done a good job on it. I'm glad to see it back in action."

"We're excited for the new stadium, but there's nothing like being back at Carl Lewton, especially for this season," added another fan in the stands, Brenda Spry.

The stadium, also known as "The Rock," is named for Carl Lewton, a teacher, baseball coach and umpire in the Carthage School District from 1955 to 1986. He also served as a baseball umpire and coach, spending over 50 years as an umpire in Little League through minor league professional baseball. He started umpiring in the KOM League in 1950 and worked with the National Baseball Congress for 24 years, serving as supervisor of umpires beginning in 1971.

In 1986, Lewton was named to the NBC Hall of Fame, the only umpire named to that hall that has such notables as Satchel Paige, Joe Garagiola and Mark McGwire.

He died in 2009 and is buried in Park Cemetery.