The Fort Wayne TinCaps (Low Class A; Midwest League) are paying homage to their team namesake by planting two Rambo apple tress at Parkview Field grown from the last living tree to be cultivated by the original TinCap: Johnny Appleseed.
Fort Wayne resident John Chapman was the original Johnny Appleseed, and he was known for wearing a tincap while extolling the virtues of apples and apple trees. The team took on an important part of his colorful persona after moving to downtown’s Parkview Field.
That homage will be strengthened by the partnership between the TinCaps and Trees Indiana to increase awareness of the importance of trees in the local community. As part of the partnership, the TinCaps and Trees Indiana played the two historic trees were planted at the South Gate of Parkview Field. Less than five feet in height at the time of their planting, these two trees have the chance to grow to over 30 feet at full maturity.
“It was a natural fit,” said TinCaps Assistant Marketing Director Abby Naas. “We have been looking for the opportunity to plant apple trees at Parkview Field, but we needed the right variety. It makes the most sense to not only plant apple trees to tie-in with the TinCaps theme, but also plant trees that have been directly raised from the last known living tree planted by John Chapman himself.
The last known living tree planted by Johnny Appleseed was discovered at the historic Harvey-Algeo Farm in Nova, Ohio. Softwood cuttings were taken from the aging tree. The cuttings were then budded and individually grafted onto apple rootstock. The resulting apple trees are genetically identical to the original “parent” tree. The Rambo apple was Chapman’s personal favorite.
The apple trees planted at Parkview Field are two of just 50 of the final trees to come from John Chapman’s original tree.
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