June 1, 2006 - The “June” Shaffer Memorial Park baseball facilities continue to undergo further refinement and improvement. Most noticeable will be a new, significantly-larger electronic scoreboard recently erected behind and above the fence in right-center field. Its cost was underwritten by Pepsi Cola Bottling of Brookfield and Chillicothe. The new scoreboard, featuring bright, easily-readable red LED illumination, shows inning-by-inning run totals, current game totals for runs, hits, and errors, the uniform number of the current batter, the ball-strike count on the batter, the number of outs in the inning, and - when applicable - whether a borderline play has been ruled a hit or an error. With the new scoreboard in place, the location of the former scoreboard (in straightaway right field) will be used for a round sign identifying the park and its status as home of Chillicothe's Mudcats, American Legion Cardinals, and high school Hornets baseball teams.

A special, potentially-highly-lucrative promotion involving that sign has been arranged for this Mudcats season, Crawford reported. If a Mudcats player hits a home run off the sign, some fan in attendance could win either a car valued at up to $20,000 or $20,000 toward the purchase of a higher-priced vehicle from Woody's Dodge-Jeep-Eagle of Chillicothe, according to the Mudcats official. Off the field, efforts by the Chillicothe Parks and Recreation Department, headed by Crawford, to further ensure the safety of fans young and old attending the game continue. Netting shielding the Jenkins Kid Zone play area behind the fan seating area down the third base line has been erected which should almost totally eliminate the risk of foul balls threatening youngsters playing there. Also, asphalt has been put in place to convert a potentially-overlooked step between the permanent seats behind home plate and those to the third base side of the plate into a sloped ramp. It also will make that area more handicapped-accessible.