Long ago on independence square (Kansas City, Lexington: vs., buses, bill)

[WCHS'59]

I see where the Rockwood Golf Course at 2400 S Maywood Avenue is closing.

The place has been there since 1943.

Their web site says they are closing for the season. The Examiner site says they are closing down.

[MRG Dallas]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

I see where the Rockwood Golf Course at 2400 S Maywood Avenue is closing.

The place has been there since 1943.

Their web site says they are closing for the season. The Examiner site says they are closing down.

Darn, sad to see this. We were members there for several years but parents were so busy we seldom went. Took my first golf lessons there with clubs that needed to be sawed down to fit me I was probably 8 or 9

[WCHS'59]

If it does not somehow get saved as a golf course, I suspect this would be prime land for a new subdivision.

Hill Park is quite close but not that big. Maybe the city needs a new park?

[MRG Dallas]

That's why I was thinking. Its highest and best use isn't a country club, and with that being in the Van Horn area maybe there's a new demand for housing there

[Mad Anthonie]

[quote=WCHS'59;24760922]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

Greenwood has 4000 people and is 4 square miles in area located in south central Jackson County along the county line.

River Bend has 10 people and is 1.8 square miles in area north of the Missouri River on M-291. On my last trip to the area, I noticed a sign that said "Welcome to River Bend" and I had no idea what it meant. Now I do.

River Bend did indeed incorporate to prevent Liberty or Sugar Creek from getting them.

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

Was this Forrest Ingram in the grocery business?

I'm not sure what business he was in. Next trip to the library I'll try to remember to check on him.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

I don’t know when the district abandoned the old school or the Division I and Division II concept, but the Community of Christ Church (formerly RLDS) now owns the old Maple Street building.

This information is incorrect. Rather than the old William Chrisman belonging to the Community of Christ Church (formerly Reorganized Latter Day Saints), the building is the world headquarters for the Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Please pardon me, but meaning no disrespect, if I say I need a score card to keep track of all these churches surrounding the Temple Lot in Independence.

[WCHS'59]

Old timers in Independence might remember Connie Mack. In the early 1950s, an aging Connie Mack would soon have an impact on everyone in the Kansas City area including in Independence.

Connie Mack was the sole owner and manager of the Philadelphia Athletics over the club’s fifty some year history. He also owned the baseball stadium, Connie Mack Stadium, where the team played and rented it out to the rival National League Philadelphia Phillies to play there when the A’s were out of town. As his team manager, Connie Mack never wore a uniform. He always wore a business suit.

Connie Mack was 88 when the American League forced the moving of the A’s because of their average 4,000 attendance per game. Arnold Johnson bought the club in 1954 and moved the team to Kansas City the following year. Although the team was able to draw well over one million fans the first and second years, attendance went downhill from there. Every year, the team was consistently last or next to last.

And then along came Charlie Finley who purchased the team and thought he had some good ideas that would make them a winning operation. He got rid of the traditional white elephant as the A’s mascot and replaced it with a mule, a Missouri mule. Charlie O. the mule became the team mascot.

Finley outfitted the team in Kelly green, gold, and wedding gown white uniforms and white kangaroo leather shoes. They were the first sports team to go “psychedelic.” Their uniform was the same for home as it was on the road.

Finley also wanted to have orange baseballs but was voted down by major league baseball. At 22nd and Brooklyn in Kansas City’s 32,000-seat Municipal Stadium he tried to shorten the distance to the right field bleachers to benefit his players and called those bleachers the Pennant Porch. However, baseball would not let him bring those bleachers in so then he began advertising them as the Half-Pennant Porch. I sat there for a number of games. Elmer Valo, Enos Slaughter, Bob Cerv, Harry Simpson, Gus Zerinial, Bobby and Wilmer Shantz, and Vic Power are some of the players I can remember. Satchel Paige even pitched a game for the Kansas City Athletics in 1965.

In 1968 Finley moved the team to Oakland because of their dismal attendance. They attracted only 727,000 in their last year. Their best won-lost record in Kansas City was 74-86.

Kansas City was able to create a new team from scratch and called them the Kansas City Royals, named after the American Royal.

[MRG Dallas]

I remember what may have been a young Reggie Jackson's first game-winning hit: a shot off the huge right field screen in the bottom of the 9th, my Dad and I seated in the bleachers behind. That was probably 1965 or 1966, whatever his rookie year was after being called to the A's following the end of the minor league season.

In the dismal season of 1960, my family had 2 season tickets, upper deck, 3rd base side. I missed all of 3 games, 2 because of afternoon games during school days. That year KC hosted the All-Star Game, my only chance to see some of the great NL stars: Aaron, Mays, et al. Mays was MVP I believe. Still have the scorecard (which I filled out) and probably a program from that game. Also my first foul ball ever when my Mom threw interference while I chased down the ball rolling around in the row in front of us. Cotton candy for 25 cents, a treat in an especially half-empty stadium. Good times.

[WCHS'59]

In those days, I have the recollection that Nellie Fox and Walt Dropo of the Chicago White Sox were a constant thorn in the Athletics’ side. But then so was everyone else unless it was maybe the Washington Senators.

Those were also the days when, on most holidays, you could go see two games for the price of one—a doubleheader. The first game started at noon and it was sometimes eight o’clock in the evening when we got home.

One evening, I was sitting in the sparsely populated Half Pennant Porch bleachers with my college roommate and his much younger brother (who eventually became a minor league player). As I recall, the tickets there were only a $1 but there were not many takers this particular evening.

A home run ball flew toward us and the ball came down and scored a direct hit in the side of a young teenage girl as she frantically tried getting away. She screamed and then started crying as the ball bounced off her side and into the sparse crowd.

There was then a mad scramble for the ball and my roommate’s brother came up the winner.

I recommended that he give the ball to the young girl. The brothers both said “no way!” in a manner that suggested I was stark crazy.

To this day, I believe he should have done that.

As I recall, there was no attention paid to this girl by the attendants. I guess back then it was tough luck if a ball hit you. Nowadays, they would probably give her a baseball and a glove and maybe not even stop there. They would probably also pay to have any medical attention that might be needed.