It's time for Positively Kansas.

Coming up with a new era of baseball now underway in Wichita will take you back to a pivotal time in history.

When Kansas led the way to end racism in the game.

Also, she's part human, part robot.

We'll meet Wichita's very own bionic woman.

See how technology has transformed her life.

And in our Kansas Wild Edge report, we enter the world of the praying mantis.

It may be the most interesting insect you'll ever find.

I first got.

Those stories are cued up and ready to roll on this edition of Positively Kansas.

Positively Kansas is brought to you in part by.

Before investing your hard earned money, make sure your financial advisor understands your objectives.

Mark Douglass CFP Serving our community for over 20 years, providing customized financial solutions that focus on the individual.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas serves more than 930,000 Kansans in various programs.

Independent member of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, an independent licensee of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, supports Cp's.

Program support provided by the F price customer and Memorial Trust and Trust Bank Trustee.

Bringing you the Kansas Wild Ed segments on Positively Kansas.

Professional baseball is returned to Wichita with great success.

The new team and stadium began another chapter in the fascinating story of the national pastime in Kansas.

It's a story with a lot of triumphs and breakthroughs.

Right at the top of the list is the role Kansas played in ending racial segregation in the game.

Chris Frank has the story.

Talking about baseball history in general or Kansas baseball in particular wouldn't be complete without talking about segregation and baseball.

Baseball has always had a certain element of segregation.

Phil Dickson has written nine books and spoken extensively about the sad legacy of racism and segregation in baseball.

Dickson says it really didn't make much difference what part of the country you were in.

Segregation was the culture.

He calls that culture of racism in the national pastime.

Baseball's twisted Sister.

But for the most part, baseball was segregated.

And with few rare exceptions, Dickson says Kansas baseball history can lay claim to the first black professional team.

And no, it wasn't.

The Kansas City Monarchs, which were based in Missouri, Kansas City, Kansas, end up having the first ever black professional team, which was the Kansas City Kansas Giants that were organized in 1907, which were an offshoot of the Topeka Giants that had been organized a few years before as segregation was in the cities.

So was it in smaller Kansas communities?

Segregated baseball was was basically the way it was from the beginning.

In Kansas in particular.

That despite Kansas entering the union as a free antislavery state, Hispanic players also dealt with segregation.

Yet at times, Mexican-American players, Cubans and players from other Latin American countries were allowed to play on otherwise white teams.

Sometimes it sadly came down to how dark or light their skin tone was.

Several Hispanic players reached the majors earlier than Jackie Robinson.

But at the same time, there were also pockets of integration.

The first team to consist of both black and white players was in Wichita in 1874.

Now it was common for Kansas communities to invite barnstorming black teams to come play their town team.

Big promotions would result in large paid attendance.

Moneywise, it was a win win for the teams and towns.

But then the same black team invited to play couldn't stay in a local hotel, eat in a local restaurant, or maybe even be in town after dark.

The further you got out in the state, if there wasn't enough black people to have it like a boarding house or rooming house, sometimes you'd have to play and head right back to where you came from because you just couldn't go into town and just get a hotel.

Those things, you know, you, you know, you kind of take all these things for granted.

You just couldn't go into a restaurant.

So you actually had to know where you could eat, where you could sleep, and some places even where you could get, you know, gasoline and take care of things like that.

Some Kansas town teams and Kansas minor leagues integrated at least for a time.

That integration of town teams and minor league teams in Kansas kind of peaked in about the mid 1890s.

And then it started to drop off again.

It became common for teams and leagues to organize along racial lines.

With segregation being the culture of the time in Wichita, there was a black team called the Black Wonders.

News clippings report.

The team played at the Monrovia Park.

Other old news clippings talk about the Monrovia amusement park under construction at 12th and Moseley in north Wichita.

That was about a century ago.

Now, a lot has changed in Wichita over the past 100 years.

This neighborhood is occupied with the milling industry and small businesses.

We're not certain on which corner of 12th and Moseley, the Monrovia amusement park, used to be.

There are no signs left of what once was here so long ago.

But the amusement park included a ballpark with stands to host games and entertain fans.

The Monrovia amusement park purchased the Black Wonders and promptly changed their name to the Wichita, Monrovia to help promote the park.

The Monrovia's were getting a winning reputation from playing barnstorming games in Kansas and beyond.

But it was a highly publicized game on June 21st, 1925, that got national attention then and is still talked about today.

So Monrovia has had quite a reputation.

And of course, at that time the Ku Klux Klan was developing their own reputation in the state of Kansas.

The Ku Klux Klan team number six challenged the Monrovia Inns to a baseball game.

The Wichita Beacon News editor seemed to enjoy writing headlines for this game.

Quote, Strangle holds, razors, horse whips and other violent implements of argument will be barred at the baseball game at Island Park this afternoon.

End of quote.

There was sort of an effort at being whimsical about these things that were terribly segregationist.

That game was kind of an unusual one.

It was it was done for promotional purposes.

And they say the Klan was trying to soften its image and it didn't help.

The historic game was played on Wichita's Ackerman Island.

Both teams had a lot of supporters filling the grandstands.

The monrovia's beat the Klan 10 to 8.

It's been talked about a lot because it just seems, you know, so, you know, so different for a black team to be playing a game against the Ku Klux Klan and then actually beat the Ku Klux Klan.

What did that symbolize?

And in that game, as in others?

Spectators also were segregated in stadium seating.

Dixon says the newspapers of that day contributed to the culture of racism because one thing they used to try to report is that black people cost a lot of fights in the stands.

They would do that.

And so that's the reason that they needed to be in their own section.

Earlier, we talked about Wichita's NBC tournament being integrated from the beginning for the NBC in the fact that they integrated was was amazing.

But in their integration, because they knew these black teams and they they would play for the state championship and they would win the first champion team, the Bismarck Churchills was integrated, led by Satchel Paige.

You got to see some pretty good baseball.

But they weren't afraid to bring in black teams.

And so Wichita has a very unique place in history for how they integrated their tournament.

Humboldt, Kansas, has the distinction of being the birthplace of two great ballplayers one white.

One black.

Walter Johnson.

George Sweat.

Jared Sweat is another interesting person from Kansas.

George Sweat was born in Humboldt, Kansas.

Humboldt is also where the great Washington senators pitcher Walter Johnson was born.

Johnson, known as the Big Train, has the second most wins in the majors.

Sweat is the first black player to have played in all four of the first Negro Leagues World Series.

1924 through 1927, he played for the Kansas City Monarchs and then the American Giants.

He's kind of like a legendary player today, even if you go back to Humboldt when you pull into town, there's a big sign saying the hometown of George Square.

Integrated teams were the exception, not the rule.

Overall, segregation was the unwritten rule in baseball until 1947, when Jackie Robinson became the first African-American player in the majors.

Wichita's League 42 unveils a statue of Jackie Robinson, the club's namesake at the Emerson Macadams Park.

Former longtime Wichita Eagle sports columnist Bob Lutz founded League 42, which is named after Robinson's jersey number 42.

League 42 was founded in 2013.

It's an idea that had percolated in my mind for many years before then because it bothered me that kids in urban settings were being kept out of baseball because of costs and geography.

It's an expensive sport getting more expensive every year, which is not good for the overall game.

Lake 42 places games at Wichita's Macadams Park.

He says they had 200 youth the first year.

They've had close to 600 youth, ages 5 to 14 in the years since then.

We want our kids to learn the story of Jackie Robinson, to be inspired by it, to understand that there are no barriers there in your way except those barriers that you allow to be in your way.

You know, you've got to persevere.

You've got to believe in yourself.

That's also what Robinson taught others from the hard lessons he learned breaking the segregation barrier in the Major Leagues.

But I think the truth needs to be told.

And I like to say, you know, America was baseball's national pastime.

But racism is America's other national pastime.

And if you don't tell these two stories side by side, people will never understand what really happened in America related to baseball, a history in any state that you ever talk about.

PBS Kansas produced a comprehensive documentary on the history of Kansas baseball.

If you'd like to make a pledge and get a copy of the DVD as a thank you gift, give us a call or stop by the station.

If you were around in the 1970s, you might remember a popular TV show, The Bionic Woman.

Well, far from Hollywood is a Wichita woman who's back to living her busy life thanks to a bionic arm.

Anthony Powell sat down with Sandra Steber, who is one of only two people in the world with such an arm.

Surfing, hanging out with family, being a teacher in Kansas and abroad.

You won't find anyone with more zest for life than Sandra Steber.

But it was her love for teaching that would forever change her life.

In 2008 I was teaching in Hebron, in Israel, and it was right after the time where they had a problem with women being suicide bombers.

Sandra was mistakenly shot by a soldier who thought she might be a suicide bomber.

She would recover, but more medical problems lay ahead.

And had a surfing accident that dislodged the bullet.

And then about a year after that, I needed to have my spleen removed because of that.

Numerous subsequent complications led to her arm being amputated in 2018, and the prosthetic.

I didn't even wear once again after the fitting, the the the poor record that they give you are these old barbaric hooks.

The Ascension via Christi Rehabilitation Center on Wichita's East Side would become Sandra's home away from home.

And it was here that her life would change again.

A surgeon here heard about a program in New York offering a different kind of prosthesis, one even given the nickname Bionic.

After several trips to New York, Sandra received her new arm in March 2021, an extremely high tech device that Sandra controls just like a normal arm.

Just like your brain.

Send signals to your other arm to move it.

Send signals down my arm.

And this calf right here picks up the signals and mechanisms to move the hand.

Getting used to the arm has taken a lot of hard work.

Sandra comes to therapy three days a week and that will continue for quite some time.

The team at Ascension via Christi always by her side.

She's very compliant.

She does everything.

Her motivation and positivity is encouraging.

You know, give her a task and she goes for it.

The first time I used it without thinking about it, I just caught myself and just cried.

It was it was a big deal.

Meanwhile, the Ascension Via Christi team played a critical.

Role long.

Before Sandra received her arm because of the amputation and other health problems.

Sandra's balance was way off, so therapists essentially had to teach her to walk again.

Your center of gravity shifts when you've lost some weight to that side.

And so she has to really relearn where that center of gravity is and how to keep herself level minus the weight.

And you don't think the arm is a lot of weight?

The arm has a lot to do with that.

That center of gravity.

But all of that seems like ancient history now that Sandra is doing so well.

She's surfing again and is even considering going back to teaching science in Gainesville and of course, using her new device for demonstrations.

I would be the most popular science teacher.

Her sense of humor also on display during a trip to New York.

Sandra's upbeat personality has been so important in combat both the emotional and financial stress of the new arm.

But despite it all.

Well, I consider myself really lucky.

It could have been so much worse at so many points along the way.

And now to be the first well, technically the second person to have an arm like this, I just feel really blessed.

After all, says Sandra, how many people can say their arm can strike fear in just about anyone?

It could crush things, but it's got it's got a mechanism in it that keeps it from crushing things.

For positively Kansas.

I'm Anthony Powell.

Sandra says getting her arm would not have been possible without the generosity of donors.

Two of her friends donated the remaining 50,000 needed for the arm.

Surprising her with the news on her birthday.

Now that the often surprising world of Kansas wildlife consider the praying mantis.

It's a common insect.

This predator hides in vegetation and eats all kinds of bugs and spiders.

It's harmless to humans and is one of the few insects actually sometimes kept as pets.

As Mike Blair shows us in this week's edition of Kansas, Wild Edge.

Now, I'm not saying you'd want to keep a bug for a pet.

They're not cute and cuddly.

And.

Some of them sting or bite, and some are playing ugly.

They really don't communicate with you, and it's often a hassle to provide their needs.

But if you wanted to give it a try, a praying mantis might be your best bet.

For.

These insect.

Well, not necessarily friendly.

Seemed to have a curiosity about humans.

And though they look strange, they kind of grow on you.

Maybe it's their eyes.

Praying mantises have prominent pseudo pupils in their compound eyes, making it easy to tell where they're looking.

Most insect eyes are comprised of larger facets that seem to look everywhere at once.

So it's confusing, but praying mantises will look you right in the eye.

A praying mantis can see clearly for about 60 feet, making it a Hawkeye in the insect world, and it can turn its head almost 180 degrees to survey its surroundings.

If some hapless small critter is nearby, it's suddenly on the menu because praying mantis is just about anything they can grasp.

They have strange front legs turned, reportorial, barbed and elongated and suited for holding prey securely.

They tend to fold these in a strike position, and this prayer like pose gives them their names.

And.

They might look slow and sleepy while waiting motionless on a plant.

But they're fast as lightning.

And.

When prey ventures near, they strike like a snake.

In fact, they're so fast they can catch flies out of the air.

They're.

Oh, wow.

Praying mantises are usually green or gray, and they blend into their surroundings.

It's easy to miss them as they wait in foliage.

They're facing the hunters and can go for days without a meal.

They have no problem with the aspect, sometimes hanging for hours upside down, sometimes right side up.

They get their water from dew and from the creatures they eat.

The mantises naturally move to where prey congregate.

Flowers are especially attractive since all kinds of small creatures eat sweet nectar.

I usually keep some watermelon rinds in summer to attract insects, and mantises love to sit on them and eat flies nonstop.

I've watched a single mantis 15 flies with no signs of slowing down.

How they can eat that much and sometimes prey items nearly as large as they are in one meal is amazing.

They're like chipping machines, swallowing bite after bite without chewing as insect parts disappear in order for prey that don't fight back, mantises start anywhere and eat both directions for stinging prey, those that bite or which might get away.

They first eat the head to quiet their victim.

And then.

I've placed captive mantises into good feeding situations and had them suddenly stop and turn to look at me as if saying, How about that?

Almost like a dog nodding appreciation during its meal.

Nah.

Couldn't be for their fierce and nonstop feeding.

Mantises are gentle and handled.

They readily climb onto your finger and they neither Biden or scratch.

I catch all that I find.

Placing them in my garden is natural pest controls.

Followed by.

When mature mantises made their males do well to hit the road promptly, since a bigger female may eat them when finished.

Their and.

Her abdomen swells in preparation for laying eggs and she lay several hundred and a protein foam mask called a no or thicker.

This hardens and protects the eggs.

A female may produce five or more egg masses during her life.

Those late, late in fall overwinter as eggs.

They hatch in the spring is tiny nymphs that resemble adult males.

Periodically, nymphs shed their skin and grow larger than adults or more than three inches long.

Don't be afraid of a praying mantis.

They're a great way to help youngsters learn about the outdoors.

I'm Mike Blair from Positively Kansas.

My on the next wild edge.

Mike shows us tadpoles facing a catastrophic situation.

Names like Lincoln, Roosevelt and Reagan are names that command great respect across America and around the world.

And a Spencer met a Winfield couple who has those names and more in their collection of autographs.

Take a look.

Walk into the home of Bob and Mary Hartley, and you'll be greeted with a hefty dose of American history.

Along the main hallway, you'll find a presidential collection that rivals some museums.

And if you look closely, you'll see that this is no ordinary display.

The Hartleys are avid collectors of United States presidential signatures.

Retired journalist and Winfield resident Bob Hartley explains how this unique hobby began.

For years I've been a student of the presidency and accumulated at one time accumulated biographies of published biographies of all the presidents and and even read some of them.

And so so there's a bit of history regarding that.

And and then, strangely enough, it had to do mostly with my work on newspapers.

I was present at an A in several situations with presidents.

A student of history, Bob has been acquiring presidential signatures for decades.

The Hartley Collection includes signatures of various leaders before their presidency as the American president and post-presidency as well.

The signed documents vary in nature from routine presidential correspondence to signed land deeds to signatures with the Kansas significance.

In Bob's office, he keeps personal photographs of some of his encounters with American presidents from his days as a newspaper editor, a job that afforded him the opportunity to shake hands with the commander in chief on the campaign trail, at conferences, and even at the White House.

Bob says he's had the most encounters with President Richard Nixon, but recalls that his very first encounter with the future president occurred as an undergrad at the University of Kansas.

At the time, Bob was a reporter for the University Daily Kansan and John F Kennedy visited the campus.

Was stationed in the behind the curtain.

That that he partied and when he came out to speak and and I remember him coming up the stairway to go to the podium and I was standing there and he went by.

And what I remember was that as he walked out in front of the people, he took his hand and roughed up his hair on his head.

And then he walked out to have his picture taken and so on.

So anyway, those kinds of things which are not in the in the moments of history, not much.

But for me, they helped build this interest.

Bob expanded his journalism career and eventually began writing books about history.

A book he wrote about President Chester Arthur's trip to Yellowstone further fueled his passion for presidential history.

But the capstone to Bob's interest was a meeting with Illinois Senator Paul Simon, whose own presidential signature collection inspired Bob's hobby.

And he had them all framed and on display in his house.

And I remember asking him why he had done that and why had he, you know, I mean, he had the house was full of them.

And he said, I feel as I as I walk into my house every day that I'm I'm in the presence of history.

And he said it.

He said, it's the best way for an individual to learn about the presidency.

And I think I always remembered that.

And when I got the bug, as it were, to acquire them, I think it was like he was the inspiration for that.

To date, the Hartleys have 23 presidential signatures, and while that's only half of the total number of U.S. presidents, Bob doesn't necessarily feel compelled to complete the set.

He says it's both a matter of affordability and having enough room in the house.

For now, the couple is happily retired in Winfield, enjoying their collection and sharing it with family, friends and fellow presidential history enthusiasts.

In Winfield, I'm Anna Spenser for Positive Positively.

Kansas.

That's a wrap for this week.

Positively Kansas to keep its story as our email address.

If you have a story idea sentiment in high Sierra Scott see again.

Positively Kansas is brought to you in part by program support provided by the F price Kosman Memorial Trust and Trust Bank Trustee bringing you the Kansas Wild Ed segments on positively Kansas.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas serves more than 930,000 Kansans in various programs.

Independent member owned Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, an independent licensee of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, supports KPS.

Before investing your hard earned money.

Make sure your financial advisor understands your objectives.

Mark Douglass CFP Serving our community for over 20 years, providing customized financial solutions that focus on the individual.