Author: Ken Clawson
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Coffee Pot Ballpark, Part 11
1914 Spring Training, Let the Games Begin! The schedule would feature 20 games with 10 being played at Coffee Pot. The Cubs in Tampa were scheduled for six games, three at each venue. Connie Mack’s Athletics were also scheduled for six games, three in St. Pete and three in Jacksonville. The cross-town Cardinals training in…
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Back-To-Back-To-Back, Part 1
Part 1: Ed Charles There have been three African American ball players to make the “white” major leagues that can be claimed as a son of St. Petersburg. Two of whom were native born. All three attended Gibbs High School when it was the segregated “negro” school for St. Petersburg. A unique feature of this…
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Coffee Pot Ballpark, Part 10
1914 Spring Training Branch Rickey is just 32 years old and is entering his first full season as a manager in the major leagues. Most managers his age are player-managers. Even though he will pinch-hit twice during the upcoming regular season, he really doesn’t fit that bill. Rickey did play in the major leagues prior…
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Hall of Famers That Trained in the Region
Part 3: 1925 – 1929 Boston Braves ’25 – 29 St. Petersburg – Waterfront Park P Rube Marquard 25 Mgr/SS Dave Bancroft 25 – 27 OF Casey Stengel 25 Mgr/2B Rogers Hornsby 28 1B George Sisler 29 SS Rabbit Maranville 29 Brooklyn Dodgers ’25 – 29 Clearwater – Brooklyn Field Cleveland Indians: 1925 – 27 Lakeland – Henley…
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Ballplayer Becomes a Quiet Civil Rights Pioneer
Archie Wade took the new-school way into baseball. He completed college first. He was a 1962 graduate of Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Al, playing both basketball and baseball. He joined the Stillman faculty after graduation and assisted his old coach in football and basketball as well. You may remember from history (or at least from…
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Coffee Pot Ballpark, Part 9
Huggins v. Rickey As mentioned earlier Miller Huggins and Branch Rickey likely met in 1904. Huggins had a successful rookie year. Rickey was called to the majors for the first time late in the season. Rickey, as he was known for, refused to play on Sundays even then. The manager, Joe Kelley, refused to play…
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Hall of Famers That Trained in the Region
Part 2 1919 – 24 Boston Red Sox: 1919 Tampa – Plant Field Washington Nationals: 1920 – 24 Tampa – Plant Field Boston Braves: 1922 – 24 St. Petersburg – Waterfront Park Cleveland Indians: 1923, 24 Lakeland – Henley Field St. Louis Cardinals: 1923, 24 Bradenton – City Park Chicago White Sox: 1924 Winter Haven…
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Coffee Pot Ballpark, Part 8
Food & Entertainment The lodging atthe brand-new 5th Ave. Hotel built for baseball got old in a hurry, and so did the food. As I mentioned with the Hotel, the smell from underneath as well as the food was so bad that the Phillies pulled out mid-training in 1916. Even earlier, the Browns owner had…
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Hall of Famers That Trained in the Region
Part 1 1913 – 18 Chicago Cubs: 1913 – 16 Tampa – Plant Field St. Louis Browns: 1914 St. Petersburg – Coffee Pot (Sunshine) Ballpark 1925 – 27 Tarpon Springs – Sisler Field Philadelphia Phillies: 1915 – 18 St. Petersburg – Coffee Pot (Sunshine) Ballpark
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Coffee Pot Ballpark, Part 7
Lodging Besides a suitable ball field, St. Petersburg lacked one other item for hosting a major league team for spring training: lodging. St. Pete’s winter tourism already taxed the existing lodging options, and none would provide a reduced rate to house a full team and give up full price bookings. Real estate was very reasonable…