The first game of the National Baseball Congress happened in Wichita in the 1930s and included an integrated team led by Satchel Paige. Greteman Group’s baseball history exhibit shared this mostly unknown account through signage and a monumental, outdoor walkway at Wichita’s Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. A 25-foot monolith shaped like a bat served as a beacon enticing visitors to the ballgame. The 84-year-old Lawrence-Dumont was torn down in late 2018 to make way for a new $81 million stadium. Thanks for the memories.
Long before the major leagues opened its doors to black athletes, Wichita was making interracial history on the baseball field.
SONIA GRETEMAN
agency president
and creative director
The interactive walk meandered along the banks of the Arkansas River alongside the stadium. It included 56-foot-high banners and larger-than-life images of several baseball legends, including Paige and his famous left-handed windmill pitch. Signage systems lined the cast-concrete, baseball-shaped walkway. A three-sided, 30-foot-high obelisk included baseball terminology and a listing of Wichita teams through the years. On one side, 84 three-dimensional, 10-inch cast baseballs raised from the surface, literally creating a wall of balls. Individual eight-foot signs included photographs of the key players and their stories. Another monument told the story of the birth of the National Baseball Congress in 1935 and the colorful history — and outrageous stories — of the legendary promoter and owner Hap Dumont.
