Coming to Johnson County: Eatertainment spot that celebrates baseball

There’s a few golf-themed restaurants and bars around the metro — Topgolf, Puttery, etc. — but none centered on baseball.

Lance Windholz, owner of the Shawnee Mission Beach Volleyball club, wanted to give “America’s pastime” some love. So, he sought to create the Kansas City area’s first baseball-themed eatertainment bar, complete with 10 baseball simulators and a massive LED screen for viewing games.

His concept, Sandlot Social, aims to open this spring at 12120 W. 95th St. in Lenexa.

The space will be 15,000 square feet, in the former Northern Tool at the Oak Park Commons shopping center (across from Oak Park Mall). While Sandlot Social will serve drinks and bar food, Windholz hopes it will be a spot where old and young alike can enjoy a competitive game or a casual hangout.

“Can my mom come do this?” Windholz said. “It definitely passes that test.”

In each bay, a baseball plate with a sensor awaits customers. Players tap their bats against the plate to signal they’re ready for a throw, and the projector will broadcast an image of a pitcher winding up.

From there, a baseball launches at players with adjustable levels of difficulty. Young children can hit the ball off of a tee.

“We wanna kind of bring in some youth during the week where they can come in, get a couple swings in, be comfortable with their swings,” he said.

Each bay will simulate different arcade-style challenges or a full game with multiple innings and batters.

But Windholz wants to be clear: Sandlot Social isn’t just a space to up your baseball game. The full bar and dining area will seat 250 people, with a Vegas-style sportsbook screen that runs the length of the bar.

The screen is 11.5 feet tall and 66 feet wide, able to show multiple different games at once.

The hope is that patrons will come in to watch Chiefs games, March Madness, tournaments and other major events in sports.

“With that screen, we really hope this is an iconic spot to watch sports,” he said. “We’d love to be a space that, when the game is on, the bar is packed.”

While Windholz is still working on the menu, the hope is to offer simple but quality food and beverage options. Nothing overly fancy.

“We’ll have a little bit of everything, probably some cocktails with a baseball theme,” Windholz said.

Pricing for bay booking is still up in the air, too.

Windholz designed the space to have a classic vintage baseball feel — leather seats, light wood mimicking the color of a bat, accents as green as a baseball diamond.

The goal, Windholz said, is to do precisely what he did at Shawnee Mission Beach Volleyball: bring the community together around sports.

“Let’s build another space for people to come out, engage and socialize and have a lot of fun,” he said. “We built a really good community in the volleyball scene … so we’re gonna bring the same model to the baseball world.”

Eatertainment concepts are increasing in the metro. Recently, mini golf-centric concept Tap Ins at the Greenhouse opened at 9571 Metcalf Ave. in Overland Park. Game and arcade bar Ricochet is eyeing a late January opening in the Crossroads at 1720 McGee St.

Jenna Thompson

The Kansas City Star

Jenna Thompson covers retail news for The Kansas City Star. A native of Lincoln, Nebraska, she previously reported for the Lincoln Journal Star and graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she studied journalism and English.