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1906-1920

In 1906, Bennert became manager and president of the team.  At the end of the season J. Warren Seabaugh and John Shimm bought the team and changed the name back to the Midgets.

In 1907 the Midgets had the worst record of 46-92 and the manager of the team was “Dad” Pierce.  One shining moment  to the season is that the new White City Park was opened and was located on the site of the Old Fairgrounds. It was also known as “Central Park”, because it was located between North Springfield and Springfield. The park was purchased by James T. Neville, R.C. Stone and Dr. F.W. Diemer. A huge amount of lumber and other building materials was purchased by the United Amusement Company of Springfield, Missouri, and the entire park was built in only a few short months. The park was primarily intended for baseball but was used for other purposes as well.  The park was the centerpiece for the city, and on the grounds there was a penny arcade, vaudeville theatre, restaurant, dance hall, and grandstands. It also held a roller skating rink, which was the largest in the country at the time.

The Knot Hole Gang was a club kids could belong to that would allow them entrance to games either free or at reduced cost. A member of the Knot Hole Gang had to agree not to skip school for games and not to use profane language.

After poor ticket sales the United Amusement Company, owner of the park, terminated the contract with the Midgets.

In 1910, the team changed its name to the Jobbers.  While being a member of the Western Association the only team that was close enough to play was located in Joplin. Once the team in Joplin left, there was no other teams close enough to play so they were removed from the league. The population of the city was 35,201.

In 1916 the Springfield team was supposed to have been members of the Continental League, however the league folded at the end of the 1915 season.

In 1920 Springfield, now a class “D” team, again became members of the Western Association. Walter J. Correy, J. Warren Seabaugh, and Willard Hamlin made an attempt to get the citizens of Springfield to finance a team by selling stocks.

           The team was then called the Springfield Merchants and was members of the Springfield Baseball and Athletic Association.

New enhancements were made to the 3,000 seat White City Park.  Grandstand were added, new locker rooms, new showers (for both home and visiting teams), as well as a separate bleacher section.  Home plate was also changed to where right field once was, later this became a problem, because many home runs ended up on Campbell Street.

This same year, the team  tried to lobby the City Council to lift the ban on no Sunday baseball. The City Council soon agreed, however added a stipulation that games could not start until after 3 pm. The lift of the Sunday ban could have helped the team greatly, but there was a church very close to the park and the team was forced to play their games at, a much smaller and poorly maintained, Doling Park, located in North Springfield.  The cities population is now 39,361.