For years, Springfield had dreams of a ballpark but no one to foot the bill. Finally, in 2004, John Q. Hammons decided to make it happen.
"We're going to have a park here the big boys can use," Hammons said in 2004. "I wanted to build something Springfield needed and hasn't had, and I wanted one that would stand out."
He delivered. Hammons Field was among the best minor league ballparks in America over the next decade.
Seventeen years later, the downtown diamond continues to be the home of the Double-A Springfield Cardinals and the Missouri State University Bears.