Muscotah

Muscotah is a baseball town, largely because it was the home of the famed Cubs shortstop Joe Tinker. As we drove into town, we saw this yard with a rose garden reminiscent of a wooden backstop, metal silhouettes of ball players, and an epic garden shed shaped like a baseball (including "stitches" made of red rebar). Here's an interesting post relating to how this baseball was made.

No one was home at this house, so we didn't stay long, but the kids couldn't resist mimicking the poses of the lawn ornaments, and I couldn't resist taking a picture of this remarkable shed. (Which, it turns out, was originally a water tower tank!)

In the city park, there's a monument to Tinker, as well as a mural featuring him, Evers, and Chance (the other two ballplayers who were part of the same immortal double play).

The homes in this town were modest and well-maintained, and the lawns were neatly trimmed. The town roads were gravel.

On the edge of town, we saw a beautiful old ruined church, though there's also a nice Church of Christ building in Muscotah as well.