By Jack Witthaus
Prep Baseball Report Writer

Victory came with a loss.

Underneath gray skies and intermittent rain, the Francis Howell baseball team played their season-ending game last Thursday in the quarterfinals at home. Despite the overcast conditions, the Vikings captured the win, walking off the field with their ninth State berth. 

However, the victory marked the end of Francis Howell’s 51-year tenure at C&H Park. Next year, the Vikings will move into their new home ball field built on campus at Francis Howell High School. 

“It was sad,” C&H board member Sheila Schafer said after watching the game from the concession stand. “It feels like we’re losing something.” 

A memory box 

Originally designed for baseball, C&H Park wasn’t always a baseball field. When it was first opened, C&H housed the Francis Howell football team in the fall. The school lugged bleachers and marked off the field for games. 

Viking baseball, though, has remained a stable fixture in the park, which has grown to add two additional diamonds. 

Behind home plate on the main diamond is a covered grandstand that was, until last year, complete with a wooden press box on top. Hand-painted advertisements, some over 40 years old, line the outfield walls. In centerfield, a mural of Francis Howell baseball achievements is scrawled across the wood, with a Sportsman’s Park-esq flagpole sitting behind the wall. 

“It’s an old-school park,” Francis Howell coach Tony Perkins said. 

C&H Park has housed the greatest Viking teams in history. The field holds stands tribute to its successes—12 sectional championships, 16 district crowns and 24 conference titles. 

But for the people who support it, there’s more to the field than just victories. 

Perkins, who is a board member for the field, said that generations of families have worked to support C&H. Each generation passes the field to the next generation. Currently, there are 10 board members that preside over the field, with many more people working in the concession stand and assisting in odd jobs around the field. 

Often, C&H is a first priority for community around the field. After heavy rains, Perkins said people show up to make the field ready. C&H lore has it that one day after severe storms, over 90 games were canceled, but C&H, through hard work from many volunteers, remained playable. 

“People that get down there love the game and will do a lot of work to allow the kids the play,” Perkins said. “That’s what makes that place so special. 

Perkins admits that the field, and the game of baseball, has consumed him. He always finds himself tinkering around C&H, picking up trash after dropping his kids off to work the concession stand, and later coming back to lock up at night. 

As the head coach of Francis Howell baseball for almost 20 years, Perkins has invested much of his time and some of his own money into the ballpark. He said he felt like a part owner of the field and that he needed to improve the park as much as he could. 

Perkins has helped put in a warning track and build a better bullpen, among numerous projects around the park. He’s partially responsible for erecting a scoreboard and rebuilding the batting cages. 

For Perkins, the field is an extension of himself. 

“I always try to keep a piece of C&H with me,” he said. 

The commitment to the field, Perkins said, brings alumni back to watch games, creating a living Field of Dreams of sorts. Perkins said that many former players, some from teams in the 1960s, showed up to watch last Thursday’s quarterfinal game. For those who return, the people on the field may have changed, but the ballpark is still there. 

“The guys come back and they have such great memories of Francis Howell baseball and C&H is such a big part of that,” Perkins said. 

Brett Graves, who was a senior on the 2011 Francis Howell State championship team, said he learned how to play baseball on C&H growing up. As a kid, he played games and practiced there, even working in the concession stand before earning his varsity letter in high school.  

“It’s sad to see (Francis Howell) go because of its history (there) … A lot of good memories left behind,” Graves said. 

Although the Vikings’ ball club may be relocating, Perkins and Schafer both said they are working with the school to host Francis Howell games at C&H in the future. Perkins said, for example, that potentially the Midwest Classic Tournament would continue to be held in C&H. 

“C&H won’t die,” Perkins said. “It will survive.”   

As for the final game at C&H, Perkins said it was fitting that Francis Howell won. 

“That (game) was just beautiful. That will be a game we’ll talk about for many years,” Perkins said. “Not a better way to end your time at C&H.”