City to Pay Off Joe Becker Stadium Debt

Joplin’s (MO) debt for the 2015 rebuild of Joe Becker Stadium will be paid off later this year.  The City Council has agreed to a proposal by the finance director to use money in the general fund’s unrestricted fund balance to pay off the remaining debt.  The city owes $1.62 million of the $2 million it financed in an effort to enlarge the stadium for use by a professional baseball team.  Read more here.

Joplin in Preliminary Talks with Frontier League

City officials are keeping Joplin (MO) ready for a pitch from professional baseball even though the Joplin Blasters (Independent Professional, American Association) struck out.  Mayor Mike Seibert this week mentioned the Frontier League (Independent Professional) in a City Council discussion about whether to install artificial turf on the infield of Joe Becker Stadium.  Read more here.

City, Blasters Will Try Mediation to Resolve Dispute

City officials and the owners of the former Joplin Blasters (American Association, Independent Professional) have agreed to try to resolve the lawsuit between them over the lost lease revenue for Joe Becker Stadium through mediation.  Read more here.

Trouble Brewing in Joplin

Joplin’s (MO) city manager and the president and chief executive officer of the Joplin Blasters (Independent Professional, American Association) exchanged email barbs recently over whether the professional team will stay in Joplin for a third season under a renegotiated five-year contract to lease Joe Becker Stadium.  Read more here.

Blasters Seek Payment Forgiveness, Lease Restructuring to Save Team

Saying they cannot afford to operate in Joplin (MO) without a lease restructuring because of lower than expected paid attendance, the owners of the Joplin Blasters (Indy Pro, American Association) announced they want the Joplin City Council to forgive the $37,500 quarterly lease payment that was not paid on Oct. 1, and to reduce the annual lease in future seasons from $150,000 to $50,000.  Read more here.  View proposal here.  Watch news report here.

New Baseball-Themed Mural for Blasters Home

Six students from the Missouri Southern State University art club, Focal Point, and their professor have been hard at work on a baseball-themed mural featuring Mickey Mantle and Joe Beccker that will be installed at Joe Becker Stadium, home of the Joplin Blasters (Indy Pro, American Association).  Read more here.  See photos here.  Read team press release here.

Ballpark Visit ALERT: Joe Becker Stadium (Joplin, MO)

Charles O’Reilly from CharliesBallparks.com recently visited Joe Becker Stadium (50 photos), home of the Joplin Blasters (Indy Pro, American Association).  View photo gallery here.

Blasters Open Renovated Ballpark

The Joplin Blasters (Indy Pro, American Association) opened renovated Joe Becker Stadium in front of 3,694 Thursday night.  Read more here.  View photo here.

Blasters to Take the Field at Renovated Joe Becker Stadium

Joplin’s historic Joe Becker Stadium is (almost) ready to take another swing at hosting professional baseball, as the first-year Joplin Blasters (Indy Pro, American Association) take the field Tuesday night to play an exhibition game against the Kansas City T-Bones.  Read more and view photo gallery here.

Blasters Name Inaugural Play-By-Play Voice

PRESS RELEASE – The Joplin Blasters announced today that Missouri native Shawn Tiemann will join the front office as the Director of Broadcasting. Tiemann will serve as the lead play-by-play voice for all Blasters games on ESPN Radio 1560 WMBH.

Groundbreaking Held for Joe Becker Makeover

Officials with the Joplin (MO) City Council, Parks and Recreation, and the indy pro Joplin Blasters (American Association) held a groundbreaking ceremony at the Joe Becker Stadium last week to recognize the beginning of the ballpark’s $4.7 million makeover.  Read more and watch news report here.

Blasters Hire Food Service Operator, Joe Becker Renovations Begin

The expansion indy pro Joplin Blasters (American Association) have hired Sodexo to manage food and beverage concession services for baseball games at Joe Becker Stadium, when the team begins play in 2015.  Read more here.  Meanwhile, the renovations slated for the old ballpark are under way.  Read more here.

Blasters Will Take the Field, but Joplin Miners Will Be Protected

The owners of the new indy pro American Association franchise in Joplin (MO) chose to call the team the “Joplin Blasters” instead of the throwback “Joplin Miners,” but the historical moniker will be protected anyway via a trademark application filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by the city back in February.  Read more here.

It’s the ‘Joplin Blasters’

During a news conference Monday, the owners of the new indy pro American Association franchise in Joplin (MO) announced that the team will be known as the “Joplin Blasters.”  Read more here.  Watch news report here.  Meanwhile, the Blasters are looking for a new developer for Joe Becker Stadium, which is being renovated to make room for the new team.  Read more here.  Thanks to John Cerone for the heads up.