What started in a restaurant window in 1981 has blossomed into an expansive attraction for the central Illinois region. Joe Kempe and Merle “Butter” Wright founded what originally was just the Bottomley-Ruffing Museum in 1981 — the Schalk portion was added later.

The idea was to honor three players from the first half of the 20th century that had ties to Nokomis and Montgomery County who each made the National Baseball Hall of Fame — Jim Bottomley, Red Ruffing and Ray Schalk.

The museum has had four homes in Nokomis during its 36 years of existence and we are excited today to bring in six more honorees, pushing the total to 111 central Illinois people who have been honored for significant contributions to the game of baseball. Congratulations and welcome!