In the spring of 1966, the Oak Park High School Northmen took the field for their inaugural baseball game. At the time, there was no outfield fence and, of course, no tradition. However, a coach named Jim Derry saw to it that the entire state would eventually see Oak Park through a different lense, the… Read more »
News
Sport: Baseball
Ed Osiek
Edward Henry Osiek played football, basketball, baseball, and track at St. Charles High School from 1932 to 1936. After high school, he played minor-league baseball from 1936 to 1938. Osiek began his career as a sporting goods salesman in 1940 in his father’s business, Economy Sporting Goods, in St Charles. He later worked in sales… Read more »
Arnold Michael “Mickey” Owen
A native of Nixa, Missouri, Arnold “Mickey” Owen was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1935. He made his major league debut in 1937, appearing in 80 games and spent the next three full seasons in St. Louis before being traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1941. After spending 5 seasons as the Brooklyn… Read more »
Ozark High School Baseball Program
Thumb through scrapbooks or yearbooks of Ozark High School baseball players, and it’s one of those sweet trips down Memory Lane. “Baseball Resumed” reads the headline tucked away in the 1975 Yearbook, accompanied with a collage of black-and-white photos. Four years later, in 1979, the team reached none other than the Final Four, and the… Read more »
Tom Pagnozzi
After debuting in 1987, Tom Pagnozzi impressed Cardinals manager Joe Torre enough that by 1990, he was named the Cardinals everyday catcher. Pagnozzi remained at that position until 1996. While “Pags” had moderate power and was considered an RBI threat, he was primarily regarded for his defense, for which he won Gold Gloves in 1991,… Read more »
Satchel Paige
Paige was an American baseball player whose pitching in the Negro Leagues and Major League Baseball made him a legend in his lifetime. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971, the first player to be inducted based upon his play in the Negro leagues. Paige was a right-handed pitcher and was… Read more »
Springfield-Greene County Park Board
In 2003, just three years after earning the Gold Medal for best public parks system in the country, the phone rang into the offices of the Springfield-Greene County Park Board. On the other end of the line was a representative from none other than Sports Illustrated. It still leaves officials shaking their heads in disbelief.… Read more »
1959 Parkview Tastemark A.L. Baseball Team
The 1959 Parkview Tastemark team became Missouri’s American Legion Junior Baseball Champion in only its third year of competition. This Cinderella contender, led by Missouri Sports Hall of Fame coach Dick Birmingham, went on to defeat the state champions from Iowa and Kansas before falling to an Oklahoma team in the four state Regional Tournament.… Read more »
Fred Patek
Fred Patek, one of the Kansas City Royals most popular players and a shortstop who was a cornerstone of the early success of the franchise. A member of the Kansas City Royals from 1971 to 1979, Patek enjoyed a 14 year big league career that started with Pittsburgh (1968-;70) and concluded with California (1980-’81). During… Read more »
Terry Pendleton
He had taken the scenic route – first to a juco in California, played extra roles at a four-year and then almost detoured out of baseball before he ever saw his first minor league game. And yet there Terry Pendleton was on July 18, 1984, called up to the St. Louis Cardinals to fill in… Read more »
Gaylord Perry
Gaylord Perry worked his way into the New York Giants starting rotation in 1964. He was traded to Cleveland in 1972 and responded with a 1.92 ERA, led the American League with 24 wins and won the Cy Young Award. He was traded to Texas in 1975 and after three seasons, he was dealt to… Read more »
Dave Phillips
Dave Phillips was born and raised in Jennings, MO. He attended Jennings High School and then Southwest Missouri State University. In 1964, Phillips made the decision to enter umpiring school, where he excelled and finished third in his class after the final evaluation process was concluded. He was quickly offered a job in the Midwest… Read more »
Dave Plassmeyer
Back in the 1970s, Dave Plassmeyer was studying to become an accountant when he set aside the calculator and realized that, if he went on to that career, it wouldn’t be all that fun. Having grown up in Owensville just west of St. Louis as a big St. Louis Cardinals fan – pitcher Bob Gibson… Read more »
Darrell Porter
Born in Joplin, Missouri, Darrell Porter grew up in Oklahoma City. He was selected as the Oklahoma High School Athlete of the Year as a senior in 1970. He was an All-State selection in football and baseball, along with being a High School All-American in the sport of football. Porter signed to play football at… Read more »
Marty Prather
His name is Marty Prather, but people from around Springfield, the Midwest and across the country know him simply as “The Sign Man.” Born in Evansville and raised in Bellbrook, Ohio, Prather moved to the Ozarks in 1981. An avid St. Louis Cardinals and Southwest Missouri State University fan, he began creating signs during the… Read more »
Don Provance
Ask sports folks in Springfield about the most impactful baseball coaches of the city’s high school programs, and the short list includes the name of Don Provance. In fact, in the spring of 1992, just weeks before he would call it a career, the local newspaper published a feature on Provance on the sports page.… Read more »