A city of good sports.

It would be hard to find a city that has been as sports-minded as Springfield. The first organized baseball league, The Southwestern League, came into being here in 1887. In the 1920's, there was a baseball farm club of the St. Louis Browns, followed by the Springfield Midgets. The Cardinal farm team played their games at White City Field in the 1930's and early 1940's. A farm club of the Chicago Cubs played a season here in 1950. A new field was built for the Cubs in the west part of the city but they never used it.

For a number of years, the passion has been for softball with as many as 400 teams now involved in softball leagues through the park program in a typical season. The National Fast Pitch Softball Tournament has been held here several years, most recently in 1978, and Springfield teams have done well in competition.

The area's schools and colleges have provided thrills for sports fans. Drury College played the first organized football game here in 1891. In the early days of both institutions, games in football and basketball between crosstown rivals Drury and Southwest Missouri State College provided spirited contests. The rivalry stopped in 1922 but was revived in basketball in 1976 with all the drawing power of the earlier contests. Both teams have claimed national basketball championships in the past 25 years.