Built in 1923 and known as Ruppert Stadium and later Blues Stadium before being sold
to the city, it was home to the Negro League Kansas City Monarchs and the minor league
Kansas City Blues until the Athletics moved from Philadelphia. The arrival of ML
baseball prompted the addition of a tall second deck to the grandstand and the centerfield
scoreboard came from Boston's
Braves Field. Eccentric A's owner Charlie Finley later
installed a host of unique features and gadgets, including a small zoo behind the
right-field fence that housed a mule named Charlie O. (the team mascot), a compressed-air
device that blew dirt off the plate from below, and a mechanical rabbit that rose
out of the ground with new baseballs for the umpire.
(SCL)
Municipal Stadium
teams