Details for the College Baseball Hall of Fame Museum are starting to come together about a year before the museum is expected to open inside the Museum at Prairiefire.
The museum is slated to showcase some of the greatest contributors to college baseball as well as a rotating collection of memorabilia that the College Baseball Foundation has gathered over the years.
Originally, it was expected to open this year in a space formerly intended for traveling exhibits, but that date has been pushed back to spring or summer 2026 to allow more time for a capital campaign to raise private funds as well as the design process with local architecture firm Populous.
For now, a temporary preview exhibit is available at the Museum at Prairiefire in the space the full museum will soon occupy.
Additionally, earlier this month, the Overland Park City Council’s Finance, Administration, and Economic Development Committee also unanimously recommended approval of some amendments to existing development and operation agreements related to the museum and broader entertainment district. That action, if the full city council approves, will require formal construction to begin by the end of this calendar year.
College Baseball Hall of Fame got its start 20+ years ago
The precursor to the College Baseball Hall of Fame started in the early 2000s in Lubbock, Texas, as a memorial award given to the top college baseball player in the country and later the top shortstop. Named after Texas Tech shortstop Brook Wallace, it honors his legacy following his untimely death at age 27.
A few years later, the group thought the award should be given out by the College Baseball Hall of Fame instead, but such an organization didn’t exist at the time, CEO and President Tom Jacobs said.
So, from there, the Hall of Fame and the associated foundation were born. Over the years, nearly 200 players, coaches and other contributors to the sport have been inducted into the so-far completely virtual Hall of Fame. The foundation has also started other awards that honor coaches, players, individual positions on the diamond and alumni excellence.
Since then, however, the Hall of Fame has never had a permanent brick-and-mortar location from which to display the countless college baseball artifacts it has amassed over the past couple of decades and honor its inductees. That’s where the Museum at Prairiefire comes in.
Last year, after a lengthy national search, the College Baseball Hall of Fame announced that it will open a permanent museum at the Museum at Prairiefire and move its foundation to Overland Park.
College Baseball Hall of Fame to open next June
Jacobs, who was formerly a board member before joining the foundation’s staff last year, said the plans for the Hall of Fame museum are pretty much firmed up at this point, though some minute design decisions are still underway.
He said he’s excited about a lot of things, but he’s most looking forward to “finally have a physical location.”
“We can tell the stories, we can preserve the legacies of all these folks that have been inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame,” he said, “just to be able to share the rich history of college baseball.”
Right now, the Hall of Fame museum anticipates a June 2026 opening date, which will bring the first phase to life. However, looking ahead, Jacobs said the College Baseball Hall of Fame plans to open a second phase of the museum with additional exhibits. Details for the second phase are still coming together.
In the meantime, fundraising for the project continues, Jacobs said. Those interested in donating can visit the foundation’s website for more information.
What does this mean for the Museum at Prairiefire?
The College Baseball Hall of Fame will operate alongside the existing natural history museum that anchors the wider Prairiefire entertainment and retail district. As such, that portion of the building will remain largely unchanged.
For instance, the full-scale replica cast of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton in the lobby will stay, as will the classrooms, a preschool, the restored wetlands and all the other features of the museum.
Instead, the Hall of Fame will take over a roughly 9,000-square-foot space initially intended for traveling exhibits, which the Museum at Prairiefire was already intending to phase out.
The Hall of Fame will also get a unique entrance to the building, and a few changes are coming to the lobby in order to accommodate some of those plans. Plus, the Hall of Fame will open a retail shop off the lobby to sell gifts and merchandise.
Keep reading: College Baseball Hall of Fame reveals concept for Overland Park museum — Take a look
