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(Bruner Field is located on the city's southwest side,
just off the Highway 61 bypass around Muscatine.
For a map of the city and the location of Tom Bruner Field visit the City of Muscatine's website at: http://ci.muscatine.ia.us/maps/parks.htm ) 
   
The article below was written by Harold Blake, a
Muscatine Community College alumnus and
long-time baseball fan.

Bruner Field, home of the MCC Cardinals baseball team, has a fascinating and colorful history, including the year they beat the Chicago Cubs!

Nearly 90 years of basball mystique are hidden inside the wooden walls of Muscatine's Tom Bruner Field. 
    
Most people know the park at the corner of League Street and Oneida Avenue as the home of the Muscatine Community College, Muscatine High School and Muscatine Red Sox teams. 
   
But few know the field was constructed and opened in 1910 as League Field. It was built as the home park for the Muscatine Camels, a first-year professional team that played in the Northern League which included Clinton, Iowa, and six teams from Illinois (Freeport, Elgin, Kankakee, Joliet, Jacksonville and Decatur). 
   
Holiday atmosphere surrounded the grand opening of the field on Tuesday, May 18, 1910. A parade formed at the site of the county courthouse and made its way to the park in South Muscatine. The contingent winding along the riverfront included city officials, police, firemen and various hose companies, two brass bands and members of numerous organizations. 
   
The park, which included a three-part grandstand (behind home plate and areas down the first and third base lines), was the best in the league. A Muscatine Journal story described the field as "a thing of beauty and a joy forever in the line of ballparks." Nearly 2,600 noisy fans who were armed with big megaphones and whistles watched under threatening clouds as the Camels beat Freeport, IL, 4-0. 
   
The Northern League's official name for the Muscatine team was Pearl Finders, but the Camels nickname stuck through that first and only year in the league. Muscatine then entered the Central Association League and the identity crisis continued as the team was called Sterlings (when playing) away and Muskies at home. 
    
The Muskies became nationally known three years later when the Muscatine team beat the Chicago Cubs on Monday, June 2, 1913, before 3,600 fans who undoubtedly established the record for the biggest crowd to see a basball game here. Over 1,500 fans arrived on out-of-town special trains and others came by car or horse and buggy. School was dismissed and young fans climbed every available tree to see the game. 
   
Chicago's acting manager, Evers, was quoted in the Journal as saying Muscatine had a fine assortment of players and "the finest infield outside the big leagues I've ever played on." The location of the park also received plaudits because of the Muscatine Slough and a scenic bluff in the background. 
   
The name was changed to honor Tom Bruner, a much-decorated serviceman who was a popular member of the Muscatine High School faculty before he died in the spring of 1956. Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians was among those throwing out the first ball for the renaming of the field. 
   
For two or more decades, Bruner Field was the site of professional events, including a heavyweight fight featuring former wold champ Ezzard Charles, games featuring the then-famous Indianapolis Clowns and other touring teams, one of which featured the famed black pitcher, Satchel Paige. 
   
Since then, many exciting Muscatine baseball teams have played in the park, including three straight Muscatine High School summer championship clubs of 1956-57-58; the state runner-up '86 Muskies; the 1994 MCC team that played in the national junior college tourney in Colorado; and a Red Sox squad that competed in the national amateur tourney in Wichita, KS, in the 1960s. The original wooden grandstands were mostly destroyed by high winds and replaced by bleachers from old Heinz Field. 
   
With the park entering a new era, improvements will benefit present and future players who may have had earlier generations of their families play there. 
    
 
[Note: Harold Blake is a semi-retired 40-year employee of the Muscatine Journal, where he held many positions, including sports editor. Assistance for this history came from Musser Public Library microfilm of old Journals; records at the Muscatine Parks Department; Douglas Randleman, Muscatine history collector; and Wilma Heuer of the Muscatine County Abstract Co.]