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An 18-foot fibreglass umpire in the outfield of the City Park ball field in Ryan, Iowa. A resident says the town bought the former Happy Chef restaurant mascot in 1981 and altered it; tourism pages call it Iowa's, if not the world's, largest umpire.
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Happy Chef (transformed to Umpire)
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Approximate location · 42.745° N, 91.712° W
FIELD GUIDE
The story
A restaurant mascot has spent more than four decades as the umpire at a small-town ball diamond in north-eastern Iowa.
The statue stands in the outfield of the baseball field in City Park in Ryan, a town of roughly 350 people, according to the Catholic Messenger in August 2026, which gives its height as 18 feet and describes it as fibreglass. A resident told the paper it began as a chef sculpted as a mascot for a Happy Chef restaurant in Cedar Rapids. He said the town bought it in 1981; the chef's hat was removed, the spoon became a raised finger, and a baseball cap and mask were added.
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A large fibreglass umpire figure standing in the outfield of the City Park ball field in Ryan. It is an outdoor statue standing in the outfield of the ball field in City Park.
ACCESS
In City Park at the ball diamond in Ryan, Iowa. Delaware County Tourism lists the location on Howard Street and Travel Iowa on Main Street.
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