With professional sports, concerts and live theater, Kansas City might be the big-top circus of entertainment in the western half of Missouri. Fifty or so miles north, St. Joseph must seem a carnival sideshow. But we have our moments, and sometimes the carnival actually outdoes the main act.

Let’s look at baseball, just for example.

Kansas City has its Royals. We have our Mustangs. The Royals play on the main stage of Major League Baseball, while the Mustangs compete in the relatively insignificant MINK League. Royals’ highlights are shown on ESPN, while the Mustang’s sparkling plays are mostly passed on through word of mouth from one fan who attended the game to another who didn’t. Kauffman Stadium has the $8.3 million Crown Vision, which requires a staff of 17 to operate. Phil Welch Stadium has the old-school scoreboard, which requires one guy punching a button.

But at this point in the season, the Royals are viewed as a miserable failure, while the Mustangs are a rousing success.

It’s been a fun season in St. Joseph. The Mustangs have given us value entertainment, exciting baseball and winning. This looms as no small accomplishment, since many Joetowners had a bitter taste after the Blacksnakes slithered out of town a couple of years ago. Mustangs attendance averaged 1,700 fans per game.

The team and the city did several things right to resuscitate hometown baseball.

Improvements to Phil Welch Stadium turned a tired, worn stadium into a grand old ballpark. The new Welch has more concession stands, bathrooms and menu choices. The old sound system needed to be replaced. The new party deck behind the right field fence is a great place to watch the game.

Phil Welch also proved to be a huge home-field advantage. The Mustangs posted an 18-3 record at home.

And the team won with local boys. The Mustangs roster was peppered with local names such as Ryan Hook, Johnny Coy, Drew Garwood, Landinn Eckhart and Adam Nelson. Add in a couple of Missouri Western State University players and one from Northwest, and familiar names dominated the lineup.

Yep, baseball is back in St. Joseph. Our Mustangs might not play on as big a stage as the foundering Royals, but they were every bit as entertaining this season.

Thanks, guys. I can hardly wait until next year.

In case you missed it

As the St. Joseph City Council mulls donating $24,600 to the Trails West! Festival, event organizers announced they raised admission prices a buck. The entry badges will now cost $6 in advance and $8 at the gate for the festival, which will be held Aug. 21-23.

The dollar increase doesn’t bother me, but forcing people to buy vouchers to redeem at food and drink vendors is really aggravating. If I want an onion blossom or buffalo burger, I don’t want to buy a block of tickets. I usually discover I don’t have enough, then have to go back and buy more. When I get home, I always find a couple leftover tickets in my pocket, so basically I just donated a couple of bucks to the festival.

I’m not going to squawk about a dollar admission increase. But if I have to buy those annoying food tickets, I’ll eat somewhere else.

Tennis, anyone?

If you drive past the Noyes Tennis Center this week and see a tired, middle-aged man whiffing at tennis balls, it’s probably me. I agreed to play in the celebrity tennis tournament that accompanies the USTA’s Heartland Clinic Women’s Classic, and sorely need to practice my lobs, serves and volleys.

The proceeds will benefit Patee Hall and will help financially challenged women afford breast cancer screenings. Other players include News-Press columnist Alonzo Weston, KQTV’s Ryan Menley and Bridget Blevins, Eagle Radio’s Greg Lynn, Missouri Western Athletic Director Dave Williams and football coach Jerry Patridge and the Rev. Jimmy Albright.

We’ll be paired with top local players and play a doubles format. The teams haven’t been announced yet.

So if you see me practicing my down-the-line backhand, honk. I can use all the good karma I can get.

Steve Booher’s column runs on Monday. He can be reached at steveb@npgco.com.