Bettis Family Sports Complex, Topeka, Kan.

Bettis Sports Complex

Handsome entrance to the complex at Lake Shawnee Park, Jun-2020.

The main seating behind the plate, as seen from along the first-base line.

A look at the field from the grandstand.

Quick Facts:

Location: Lake Shawnee Park, 29th Street at Croco Road Southeast, outside Topeka, Kan. (map it using Google Maps)
Opened: 2010
Home team: Topeka Train Robbers, Pecos League (2016); Shawnee County Amateur Baseball Association
Capacity: 1,500 (approx.)

The sports complex at Lake Shawnee Park, a county park southeast of the Kansas capital city of Topeka, opened in 2010 and is dedicated to George Bettis, a mover and shaker in local baseball in Shawnee County for many years, and to his family that played and supported the game. The complex includes four baseball fields, two of which are of regulation dimensions, as well as a soccer facility. At the baseball fields, everything is artificial turf except for fair territory of the outfield, which is natural grass.

The main field, Jerry Robertson Field, is the home of a college summer league team, the Topeka Golden Giants, who are named after a minor league team that played in the city for just one year, 1887, but won the Western League championship that season thanks to a fair amount of major league talent on the roster.

Jerry Robertson Field also saw a brief turn in professional ball in 2016, as the low-level independent Pecos League made its easternmost foray. The loop also had teams in two other Kansas cities, Garden City and Great Bend; only the Garden City team lasted more than one season, as it was closest to the league's base in New Mexico and Colorado.

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