Tenants: Kansas City Athletics (AL, 1955-67); Kansas City Royals (AL, 1969-72), Kansas City Chiefs (AFL/NFL, 1962-72)
Opened: July 3, 1923
Ropened: April 12, 1955
First night game: n/a
Last game: October 4, 1972
Demolished: 1976
Capacity: 17,476 (1923); 30,296 (1955); 35,561 (1971)
Architect: Osborn Engineering (1923)
Builder: n/a
Owner: City of Kansas City
Cost: $400,000 (1923); $2.5 million (1955)
Kansas City Municipal Stadium (also known as Muehlebach Field, Ruppert Field and Blues Stadium) was a baseball and football stadium that formerly stood in Kansas City, Missouri. It hosted the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues, Kansas City Athletics of the AL from 1955-1967, the Kansas City Royals of the AL from 1969-1972 and the Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL from 1962-1972. It also hosted the minor-league Kansas City Blues from 1925 until 1954?
Municipal Stadium was originall built as Muehlebach Field in 1925 for the minor-league Kansas City Blues, costing $400,000. The stadium consisted of a single-decked, mostly covereed, grandstand extending from the right field foul pole down around most of the left field line. When the New York Yankees bought the Blues for their farm system in 1937, the stadium was renamed Ruppert Field in honor of the Yankees owner, Col. Jacob Ruppert. Ruppert died two years later, and the stadium was renamed Blues Stadium in 1943.
The A's announced that they would move to Kansas City in November, 1954, and the stadium was quickly renovated. Renamed Municipal Stadium, an upper deck was built atop the original stands, and was ready by opening day in 1955. The scoreboard from Braves Field was bought and moved to Kansas City. Temporary bleachers were also added in the left field corner and parts of the outfield. The bleachers were shifted somewhat around from year to year.
Municipal Stadium was home to many of the schenanigans of A's owner Charlie Finley, including his attempt to shorten the rather distant fences by creating a 296-foot Pennant Porch in right-field to mimic the famed short fence in right field at Yankee Stadium, home of the powerful Yankees. The move was quickly vetoed by the league. A small zoo and picnic area stood behind the right-field fence. It housed the team mascot, a mule named "Charlie O". A mechanical rabbit, nicknamed "Harvey," rose out of the ground with new baseballs for the umpire and a compressed-air device blew dirt off of home plate.
When the Dallas Texans were bought by Lamar Hunt and moved to Kansas City in 1962, becoming the Kansas City Chiefs, Municipal Stadium was readied for football. Temporary stands were erected in left-field for the football games, but had to be removed during the baseball season.
As Municipal Stadium aged, it became clear that new stadiums would be needed, and public bonds were issued in 1967 to fund a complex including separate baseball and football stadiums. After the A's left for Oakland, the Royals used Municipal stadium as a temporary home. After the 1972 season, it was replaced by Royals Stadium for baseball and the adjacent Arrowhead Stadium for football. Municipal Stadium was demolished in 1976, and a municipal garden now stands on the site.
