90 years ago on this day (1935), the first games were played in Wichita in what is now the National Baseball Congress World Series. The games were played at the new ballpark downtown, Lawrence Stadium.
The NBC World Series is an annual collegiate and semi-pro baseball tournament held in Wichita.
When the national tournament started in 1935, participants were primarily town teams and industrial teams. with rosters featuring aging former minor league and major league ballplayers, and players ineligible for major league baseball.
The first NBC World Series in 1935 was called the "Little World Series"; it was held August 13–27. National Baseball Congress founder Hap Dumont was director of the National Tournament Committee of Wichita that put on the tournament.
32 teams were invited to the first national tournament. A focus was put on diversity, with five teams classified as "integrated," one team consisted of Native Americans, and another of Japanese players.
Future Baseball Hall of Famer Satchel Paige was signed to a $1,000 personal-appearance contract for the 1935 tournament (the equivalent of more than $23,000 in today's money). A victim of the baseball color barrier, Paige was not eligible to play minor or major league baseball.
Dumont recruited Baseball Hall of Fame member Honus Wagner of the Pittsburgh Pirates as the guest of honor at the 1935 opening night banquet.
Wichita's previous baseball stadium, Island Park, was located on an island in the Arkansas River, just north of the Douglas Street bridge; Island Park burnt down in 1933 when a cigarette ignited the wooden structure.
Without a venue to host his baseball games, Dumont petitioned the city of Wichita for a federal W.P.A. project to construct a new stadium. He presented an idea for a national, semi-professional baseball tournament to be held in Wichita. Lawrence Stadium was constructed prior to the 1934 baseball season.