Western history author and speaker Jeff Barnes comes to the Alliance Public Library to present a story on one of the most unusual and storied baseball fields in Nebraska. The Thursday, April 7th, 6:30 p.m. presentation is sponsored by a grant from Humanities Nebraska.
“Sand Hills and Sandlots: The Amazing Story of Rushville’s Modisett Ball Park” is a recounting of the ball park built by ranchers that went on to host a nationally famous baseball school, sponsored by the Milwaukee Braves and New York Yankees, which saw a southpaw from Gering, Nebraska, who struck out Mickey Mantle. In 2014, the ball park underwent a complete restoration for the park’s 75th anniversary, in large part funded by a Nebraska publisher who grew up in Rushville and played at the ball park as a boy.
“It’s truly incredible for a town of less than 900 people to have such a storied park,” said Barnes, “and even more incredible for the park to be rebuilt for a second 75 years. But it’s a wonderful tale of how the right people in the right community taking the right actions can come together to create a shrine to the great American pastime.”
The 45-minute presentation includes historic images and stories of Rushville’s relationship with baseball. The talk is taken from Barnes’s book, Extra Innings: The Story of Modisett Ball Park.
A former newspaper reporter and editor, Barnes lives and writes in Omaha. He is a board trustee with the Nebraska State Historical Society, former chairman of the Nebraska Hall of Fame Commission, and one of the top-requested speakers with Humanities Nebraska. He is the author of seven books of Great Plains history, including Cut in Stone, Cast in Bronze: Nebraska’s Historical Monuments, 150 @ 150: Nebraska’s Landmark Buildings, Forts of the Northern Plains, The Great Plains Guide to Custer, and The Great Plains Guide to Buffalo Bill.