Home of the Blues and the Monarchs


Entrance to the community garden at what was the right field entrance, Sep-2021.
Monuments to famed players and moments adorn the garden.
The new housing development. This view is looking roughly toward home plate.
Quick Facts:
Muehlebach Field went up in 1923 to host the minor league Kansas City Blues, who would be the primary tenant for 32 years. For much of that time, the Kansas City Monarchs, who played in at least two of the established Negro major leagues, were also a tenant. The facility was originally named for team owner George E. Muehlebach, but it became known as Ruppert Stadium for several years when Jacob Ruppert, owner of the New York Yankees, had the Blues as a minor league affiliate. Eventually, the Philadelphia Athletics moved to Kansas City and took up residence here for about a decade. (In the 1950s, the joke was that the Athletics were a minor league team of the Yankees, as the two were trading partners on a regular basis, with the Yankees often getting the better of the deals. Roger Maris, who established a single-season home run record with 61 homers in 1961, had come from the A’s.)

After the A’s moved out to Oakland, the city was awarded an expansion team in 1969. The Royals played here for four years before joining the NFL Chiefs at the new Truman Sports Complex.

The Chiefs were not without a classic moment of their own at Municipal Stadium. In the last NFL game played at the facility, the Miami Dolphins eliminated the Chiefs from the playoffs in the longest game in league history, one that required 22 minutes 20 seconds of overtime.

Before the stadium’s 50-year reign came to an end, the park also hosted the North American Soccer League as well as a Beatles concert. But once the primary tenants had moved east to the corner of I-70 and I-435, the park, which had been rebuilt for major league ball in 1955, quickly fell into disrepair and it was razed in 1975. A community garden now sits on the corner of 22nd and Brooklyn, with much of the field area taken up by a housing development called Monarch Manor.

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This page updated 30-Dec-2022