
Nashville is a Big League city despite never having been home to a major league team. From the Civil War era, to star-studded exhibitions, to outstanding Negro Leagues teams, to some of the great minor league franchises of all time, few cities have as rich a baseball tradition as Nashville, Tennessee.
Nashville sports historian Bill Traughber, who has been writing about baseball for nearly two decades, traces that 130+ year history from its beginnings to today. Featuring 32 essays, detailed player profiles and stats, timelines and seasonal results, and more than 80 photos—many of them previously unpublished—Nashville Baseball History: From Sulphur Dell to the Sounds—captures all the local flavor and passion of one of the south’s great baseball cities. Featuring…
Dedication
Forward, by Farrell Owens
Preface
Early Nashville Baseball
Sulphur Springs Ball Park
The 1885 Nashville Americans
The 1887 Nashville Blues
Nashville Plays Night Baseball in 1894
The 1895 Nashville Seraphs
The 1897 Nashville Centennials
The 1901 Nashville Club
The 1902 Nashville Team
Greatest Baseball Game Played in the South
A 1911 Lawsuit Bans Sunday Baseball
Tom Rogers’ Perfect Game in 1916
Tom Wilson and the Nashville Elite Giants
Nashville’s Top Black Players
Nashville Welcomes the Great Babe Ruth
Sulphur Dell’s First Night Game
Gilbert Family Contributed to Nashville Baseball
The 1940 Nashville Vols
All-Star Games Played in Nashville
Baseball’s Greats Play in Nashville
Vice-President Johnson Tosses First Pitch
Vols Say Good-Bye in 1963
The 1978 Nashville Sounds
Nashville Sounds Championships
The Nashville Xpress
First Tennessee Park
Nashville Sounds Notes and Highlights
Appendix I: Nashville Vols Year-by-Year Results
Appendix II: Nashville Sounds Year-by-Year Results
About the Author