Hammons Field, home of the Springfield Cardinals, now features a new addition to its ball park. A manual scoreboard will embrace baseball’s past, and keep score for several major league games, including the St. Louis Cardinals. KSMU’s Anna Thomas reports.
Construction crews with Springfield-based Payne Sign Company are putting the finishing touches on the new scoreboard, which will soon make its debut.
Matt Gifford is the vice president of Hammons Field.
“I think what it brings is the romance of baseball. And the fact that it brings back those memories of seeing other ball parks, whether it be Sportsman Parks for some of our fans, or the old Busch Stadium or even a nod to a place like Fenway Park which people love, and even Wrigley Field. It’s something about the manual scoreboard and the history and tradition of baseball,” Gifford said.
Payne Sign Company has had worked through a few weather delays in installing the scoreboard. But company owner Ron Barber says he was pleased to do this project considering Payne Sign did the original sign work for Hammons Field.
“It’s just a unique project, and hopefully everybody will be happy and satisfied with the end result,” Barber said.
Located behind the bullpen in left field, the 12x54 foot scoreboard features a World Series champion sign for the St. Louis Cardinals, 11 flag pools and space to keep inning by inning scores.
During a game, staff members will be stationed on two walk boards behind the scoreboard to operate it, switching out numbers to keep other game scores up-to-date.
“I think the fans that have seen it over the past two days have really fallen in love with it,” Gifford said.
Hammons Field officials are still determining safety and operational guidelines before it confirms the scoreboard’s first game.