Whitey hits home run

A foundation associated with former St. Louis Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog has contributed $25,000 to Jackson to help build a first-class baseball field in Brookside Park. Herzog also has pledged another $25,000 to the project, estimated to cost more than $200,000.

Herzog is a friend Jack Litzelfelner Sr., one of the owners of Bent Creek Golf Course in Jackson. The two men played minor league baseball together in the 1950s. The subject of Jackson's need for a new field arose during Herzog's visit here last summer.

Baseball is a popular sport in Jackson. Seven hundred youths ages 6 to 18 play in the spring and summer league and another 200 play in the fall leagues. The city has seven baseball fields, including the heavily used American Legion Field, but lacks a topflight ball diamond comparable to Capaha Field in Cape Girardeau.

The city already has the land and will maintain the field.

Efforts to begin raising the rest of the money are expected to begin in the spring. The city hopes to be playing ball on the field in the summer of 2007.

Herzog provided Cardinals fans with many years of exciting baseball. Thanks again, Whitey.