It was one year ago on this night that Wichita's new Double-A baseball team, the Wichita Wind Surge, played its inaugural game at the new $75 million stadium downtown.
In front of a sellout crowd on a chilly night, the Amarillo Sod Poodles defeated Wichita 3-2.
The game marked the first affiliated minor league baseball game played in Wichita in 14 years; the Wichita Wranglers exited town after the 2007 season, headed for a newly-built stadium in Springdale, Arkansas.
Wichita's new stadium was originally intended as the home for a new Triple-A team in 2020, but the entire minor league season was wiped out by the pandemic. By the time the 2021 season came about, a reorganization of minor league baseball slotted Wichita once again as the home of a Double-A franchise.