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Clear skies. Low 48F. Winds light and variable..

Clear skies. Low 48F. Winds light and variable.

For over a century, baseball games have been played at the site of the current Rotary Recreational Complex - Ronsick Field.

But, before last week, they had never been played on fake grass.

The new artificial turf infield was put on display for the Washington Post 218 Freshman Legion Preseason Tournament.

Kudos to the Washington Parks Department for getting the project finished prior to the start of the season. City crews pounced to get everything rolling once the turf arrived following a supply chain delay.

Post 218 already has a spot in the Missouri American Legion Junior and Freshman state tournament rotation. The new turf will make it easier to prepare the field for games after rain storms, something that provides more flexibility during tournaments with time constraints.

We saw that last weekend. We had over two inches of rain Saturday. In the past, they might have been able to play an abbreviated schedule Sunday, but only after a lot of physical labor on the infield to remove standing water and recondition the dirt.

This time, they were able to run an extended Sunday schedule for the Post 218 event, giving all but one team three games over two days.

The turf field will be another reason that American Legion baseball teams will want to play games in Washington.

A future goal is bringing a regional event to Washington. The turf will be a big help, but there likely will have to be other upgrades to the facility to make that happen.

One of the criticisms of bringing a big event to Ronsick are the dimensions. The distance to dead center is 354 feet. That’s pretty short for a regional field. In comparison, Duncan Field in Hastings, Nebraska, site of last year’s Mid-South Regional, had a length of 408 field to dead center, 405 to the power alleys.

The distances down the lines, 370 to left and 367 to right, both are longer than Ronsick Field’s center field.

There are ways to make the park play longer. If the fences could be raised, or even pushed back (Circle Drive no longer exists behind the field), that would help.

Down the road, the facility likely would need an upgrade in seating capacity and possibly an updated scoreboard (perhaps similar to the one at Taco Bell Field at East Central College).

Those types of upgrades are conversations for another day, however.

Recently, a number of Washington High School alumni returned for various reunions.

One returner was Clifford Aitch, who played center field for the 1957 Washington Post 218 American Legion state championship team.

After graduating from Washington High School, Aitch graduated from Lincoln University and enjoyed a lengthy basketball coaching career, which culminated in being elected to the Detroit Coaches Hall of Fame in 1999. He was a WINGS Hall of Honor recipient in 2013.

Aitch and his wife, Beverly, came to Washington, and talked about his many adventures.

It was a joy to spend time with the Aitches.

Another group that returned were Washington basketball players from the 1950s.

Led by Earl “Duke” Schmidt, the group has met annually at the reunions. COVID-19 put those reunions on pause and this was the first one since the pandemic began.

The group, which graduated from the old high school building (now Locust Street), met with current Washington School District Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Kephart, who gave a tour of the old building, including what’s left of the gym.

The group continued its tradition with a luncheon, held this year at the Old Dutch Hotel.

Schmidt has worked to come up with the final account on the basketball teams of that era, including tracking down all of the stats. The 1955-56 team, which played under Pete Curl, was involved with the infamous fish game against Clayton in the playoffs.

A Senior Life-Times story on the group and its reunions will be in an upcoming edition.

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