T-Bones Stadium

JustBats Field at T-Bones Stadium, formerly CommunityAmerica Ballpark, is a baseball park in Kansas City, Kansas, located in the Kansas City neighborhood of Piper. It is the home of the Kansas City T-Bones of the independent American Association, and the former home of the Kansas City Wizards (now Sporting Kansas City) of Major League Soccer. It is located in the Village West area at 1800 Village West Parkway. Many local area High School teams, including Bonner Springs High School, in their annual Butch Foster Memorial Baseball Classic play at the ballpark and it is also the home of the Kansas City Kansas Community College Blue Devils. It has also been used for concerts and some community events.

JustBats Field at T-Bones Stadium

T-Bones' evening game
Former names	CommunityAmerica Ballpark (2002-17)
Address	1800 Village West Pkwy
Location	Kansas City, Kansas
Coordinates	39°7′28″N 94°49′51″W
Owner	Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas
Capacity	Baseball: 6,537 Soccer: 10,385
Field size	Left field: 300 feet (91 m) Left-center: 411 feet (125 m) Center field: 396 feet (121 m) Right-center: 409 feet (125 m) Right field: 328 feet (100 m)
Surface	Bermuda[1]
Construction
Broke ground	September 4, 2002
Opened	June 6, 2003
Construction cost	$12 million USD ($16.7 million in 2019 dollars[2])
Architect	Heinlein Schrock Stearns (now 360 Architecture)
Tenants
Kansas City T-Bones (NL/AA) 2003–Present Kansas City Wizards (MLS) 2008–2010 Kansas City (KS) Community College Blue Devils

Description

View from center field

The ballpark was originally named after CommunityAmerica Credit Union, a Kansas City area financial institution, which held naming rights to the park from 2002 to 2017. The reported dimensions of CommunityAmerica are 300 feet (91 m) down the left field line (with an 18-foot (5.5 m) wall, affectionately known as "the Little Green Monster"), 411 feet (125 m) to left center, 396 feet (121 m) to dead center, 409 feet (125 m) to right center, and 328 feet (100 m) down the right field line. Walls are about five feet high, with the exception of the Little Green Monster and the bullpen area in left center.[3] The walls are about 10 feet (3.0 m) high at the bullpens, which are in center field and add a few extra angles and contours to the outfield. The playing and seating areas are completely surrounded by a 25-foot (7.6 m) wide concourse. With the addition of bleacher seats in 2008, the park has 6,537 fixed seats, though its capacity (including the concourse, picnic area, right field grass berm, and center field party area) is usually considered over 7,500.

History

Ground was broken on September 4, 2002, and was completed in just over nine months by Titan Construction, opening June 6, 2003. Baseball had a record paid attendance of 10,345 on June 23, 2007.[4] Major League Soccer attendance, with the new seating configuration, regularly exceeds 8,000, and its record paid attendance was 10,385 on March 29, 2008. The 2006 Northern League All-Star game was held at CommunityAmerica Ballpark on July 18, with related festivities the day before. Sporting Kansas City played its home games at the stadium while the team's new stadium was being constructed. Because of the soccer presence, the Baseball configuration had taken an unusual step. In most natural grass fields the base lines where baserunners run between bases is dirt. However, CommunityAmerica Ballpark had dirt sliding pits just around the three bases, homeplate, and the pitchers mound. This was so that grounds crews would not need to install excessive amounts of grass for each Wizards home game. On March 29, 2008, the Wizards played their first game at the ballpark and defeated D.C. United 2-0 in front of a sell-out crowd.[5]

Before the start of the 2008 season, the left field berm area was replaced with permanent bleacher seats. Additional metal bleachers were added on the concourse running from behind the former left field berm to the bullpens in center field. This added 2,172 to the ballpark's fixed seating capacity, raising it from its originally 4,365 fixed seats.[6]

On June 3, 2007 the ballpark was the site of a world record-setting performance of the Deep Purple hit "Smoke on the Water" by 1683 guitarists, in a publicity stunt for KYYS radio (now KZPT).[7]

On November 20, 2017, the T-Bones announced that the naming rights agreement between the team and CommunityAmerica would not be renewed, with the facility being named T-Bones Stadium on an interim basis.[8] In July 2019, the T-Bones reached a naming-rights deal with Kansas City-based Pro Athlete, Inc. to use their JustBats brand in renaming the playing surface JustBats Field at T-Bones Stadium.[9]

The Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas evicted the T-Bones from the stadium on October 14, 2019 for failure to keep up rent and utility payments.[10] Days later, the Unified Government approved a stadium lease with an organization trying to purchase the T-Bones.[11] The purchase was completed. The new five-year lease has three five-year options.[12]

Panoramic Shot of the ballpark from July 2008

Gallery

• 
  Left field wall displaying the Retired number of Buck O'Neil
• 
  Scoreboard
• 
  View from left field stands
• 
  View from right sideline stands

External links

• General Information about the ballpark on Kansas City T-Bones web site.

References

1. "Field Conversion Begins at CommunityAmerica Ballpark". www.tbonesbaseball.com. Retrieved April 28, 2008.
2. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved January 1, 2020.
3. http://nlfan.com/kansascity/tickets.shtml
4. "2007: A Season for the Records". www.tbonesbaseball.com. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
5. "Wizards smother United in opener". kc.wizards.mlsnet.com. Archived from the original on April 9, 2008. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
6. "CommunityAmerica Ballpark Undergoes First Major Renovation". www.oursportscentral.com. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
7. "1,683 Guitarists Play 'Smoke on Water'". www.washingtonpost.com. June 4, 2007. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
8. "CommunityAmerica Ballpark to get new name". www.wyandottedaily.com. June 30, 2018. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
9. "New for 2019: JustBats Field at T-Bones Stadium". Ballpark Digest. August Publications. July 19, 2019. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
10. Hardy, Kevin (October 14, 2019). "Wyandotte County evicts T-Bones for unpaid rent, utilities". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved October 16, 2019.
11. Hardy, Kevin (October 17, 2019). "New Kansas City T-Bones owners say upgrades will bring more than baseball to stadium". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
12. Spedden, Zach (February 26, 2020). "Kansas City T-Bones Plot Future Under New Ownership". Ballpark Digest. August Publications. Retrieved March 5, 2020.

Events and tenants
Preceded by U.S. Steel Yard	Host of the NoL All-Star Game CommunityAmerica Ballpark 2006	Succeeded by Newman Outdoor Field
Preceded by Arrowhead Stadium	Home of the Sporting Kansas City 2008 – 2010	Succeeded by Children's Mercy Park