Lawrence-Dumont Stadium

Lawrence-Dumont Stadium in Wichita, KS, was the home of Wichita affiliated baseball from 1950 through 2007. After that, the Wichita Wranglers of the Texas League began playing in a new ballpark in Springdale, AR, as the Northwest Arkansas Naturals.

It also hosted the National Baseball Congress World Series from 1935 through 2018. Completed in 1934, the ballpark was originally called Lawrence Stadium in honor of civic leader Robert Lawrence. In 1972, it was renamed to honor NBC founder Hap Dumont as well.

There was no question it would host the NBC WS - that's why the city built it - but it lost the College World Series to Omaha, NE after hosting its third edition in 1949. Professional baseball arrived in 1950, originally in the form of the Western League's Wichita Indians. L-D later hosted 15 Triple-A seasons, but the Wichita Aeros moved to Buffalo, NY, after the 1984 campaign.

L-D was long thought both too historic - more for the NBC World Series - to replace and the reason Wichita lost affiliated ball. It was demolished after the 2018 season to make way for a replacement that landed the Pacific Coast League's New Orleans Baby Cakes. However, the NOLA franchise was demoted back to the Double-A Texas League in MLB's 2021 Minor League Reorganization.

The NBC WS was played at Wichita State University's Eck Field while LD's replacement was built. Going forward, the plan was to play the series at two sites to lessen scheduling issues with the Wichita Wind Surge. That did not happen in 2021, for undisclosed reasons, but both Wichita and the Surge say that is not a permanent end.