{"id":540,"date":"2013-09-11T21:02:39","date_gmt":"2013-09-11T21:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/rochester-honkers\/?page_id=377"},"modified":"2023-04-12T16:08:48","modified_gmt":"2023-04-12T16:08:48","slug":"ballpark","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/willmar-stingers\/team\/ballpark\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Taunton Stadium"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter size-large wp-image-6158\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/assets.northwoodsleague.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/12\/Baker-Header-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<table style=\"height: 646px;width: 50.1667%\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"1\" cellpadding=\"5\" align=\"center\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 99.336%\" colspan=\"2\">The main baseball field in Willmar is called Baker Field at Bill Taunton Stadium. The facility was recently renovated with wonderful spectator seating, concession stand, restroom facilities, and dugouts. Improvements are still taking place on an annual basis at the ballpark. The renovation took place in 2005 and 2006 following a storm that left the field unplayable.<\/p>\n<p>Bill Taunton Stadium is home to Willmar High School, Ridgewater College, two local VFW teams, a Legion post team, amateur team and a Northwoods League franchise.<\/p>\n<p>In August of 2010, Willmar and Bird Island were the proud co-hosts to the 2010 Class B &amp; C MN State Amateur Baseball Tournament. Both sites were full of fans from all across the state of Minnesota.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 99.336%\" colspan=\"2\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/willmar-stingers\/tickets\/bill-taunton-stadium-map\/\"><strong>Bill Taunton Stadium Map<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 53.3851%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-3524 size-full\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%274288%27%20height%3D%272848%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%204288%202848%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%274288%27%20height%3D%272848%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/assets.northwoodsleague.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/12\/DSC_5431-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"dsc_5431\" width=\"4288\" height=\"2848\" \/><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 45.9509%\"><u><strong>Bill Taunton\u00a0 <\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n<p>Friend of youth, community leader, and Big Ten Umpire, Bill Taunton was instrumental in bringing the American Legion State Tournament to Willmar three times, including 1979, the first full season for this ball field.\u00a0 A grocery man by trade, this Alabama native gave a generation of teenagers their first steady paycheck.\u00a0 His avocation was umpiring.\u00a0 He worked 6 Legion World Series, four as a crew chief, and Big Ten baseball for a decade.\u00a0 The Air Force veteran was a strong advocate for Legion Baseball on the local and national levels, forcing through a no-tobacco policy in the mid-70s.\u00a0 A better baseball man would be hard to find.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 53.3851%\"><u><strong>Orv<\/strong><strong>ille G. Baker<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n<p>Born in Aberdeen, South Dakota, Orville Baker was 34 years old when he began working for the city of Willmar in 1954.\u00a0 He became Parks Superintendent in 1956, a position he held for 21 years until his untimely death in 1977.\u00a0 Orville was proud of his hometown of Willmar, as well as his work.\u00a0 He took meticulous care in maintaining the city\u2019s parks and baseball fields, especially Hodapp Field, the town\u2019s ballpark.\u00a0 When Hodapp was torn down for the new football stadium, the park board dedicated the new baseball field at the edge of town to his memory.<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 45.9509%\"><a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/assets.northwoodsleague.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/12\/IMGP9844-scaled.jpg\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter size-large wp-image-3525\" title=\"\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27392%27%20height%3D%27261%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20392%20261%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27392%27%20height%3D%27261%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/assets.northwoodsleague.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/12\/IMGP9844-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"imgp9844\" width=\"392\" height=\"261\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><u>Ballpark Address<\/u><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">1401 SW 22nd Street<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Willmar, MN 56201<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a title=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/willmar-stingers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2013\/09\/Stadium-Map.jpg\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload alignnone wp-image-681 size-large\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27700%27%20height%3D%27438%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20700%20438%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27700%27%20height%3D%27438%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/assets.northwoodsleague.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/12\/Stadium-Map.jpg\" alt=\"Stadium Map\" width=\"700\" height=\"438\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The main baseball field in Willmar is called Baker Field at Bill Taunton Stadium. The facility was recently renovated with  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":39,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-540","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.5 (Yoast SEO v26.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bill Taunton Stadium - Willmar Stingers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/willmar-stingers\/team\/ballpark\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bill Taunton Stadium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The main baseball field in Willmar is called Baker Field at Bill Taunton Stadium. 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