Author: Ken Clawson
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1946 Florida State Negro Baseball League
A missing season? Baseball Wiki is the only place I’ve found that has attempted to provide the teams in the league from 1945 through 1954. Wiki states that it is unknown if the league played this year. So, here you go… Standings through 9/29/46 Team Won Lost Pct. Tampa 21 6 .778 Lakeland 16 9…
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Coffee Pot Ballpark, Part 6
Rickey Builds a Modern Field As a playing field was constructed that would match any being used for spring training, it is the rest of the complex that helps St. Pete’s facility shine. To the north of the field (third base/left field line) was the teaching facility. Rickey will have installed four handball courts, three…
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Two I Coached
I was a head high school baseball coach in Pinellas County with three different schools for ten seasons. At my first two stops I had the pleasure of coaching future major leaguers. I got a first-hand view of what some of these guys look like when they are younger. Although both are big and strong…
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Coffee Pot Ballpark, Part 5
Rickey Builds a Modern Field The Snell and Hamlett Company fulfills their obligations for the property in short order. The trees and stumps are removed, holes filled and the property is leveled. Rickey draws up his ideal design and sends the St. Louis ballparks head groundskeeper, Sam Barnes, to handle the development of the playing…
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1945 Florida State Negro Baseball League
League Re-forms – Final Regular Season Standings W L Pct Orlando All-Stars 16 3 .843 Daytona Beach Black Cats 13 4 .765 Bradenton Nine Devils 15 6 .714 West Palm Beach Black Yankees 11 7 .611 Lakeland Tigers 12 9 .571 Tampa American All-Stars 5 15 .250 Bartow Polk County All-Stars 4 15 .215…
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Coffee Pot Ballpark, Part 3
The Browns are coming! The first article in the Coffee Pot series was intended to mark the beginning of the piece. Circumstances took me back a bit in history and I found some fascinating information relating to St. Pete’s quest for Spring Training baseball. This information comes primarily from the archives of the St. Petersburg…
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Coffee Pot Ballpark Part 4
Deciding on a Location Back in the winter of 2024 the chapter decided to pursue a project of putting together a trolley tour of the spring training sites that existed in Pinellas County. First, we would need to do some research. SABR’s Spring Training Research Committee seemed like a good place to start. The committee…
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Coffee Pot Ballpark, Part 2
Late 1912 The first article in the Coffee Pot series was intended to mark the beginning of the piece. Circumstances took me back a bit in history and I found some fascinating information relating to St. Pete’s quest for Spring Training baseball. This information comes primarily from the archives of the St. Petersburg Daily Times…
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Two I Played With
I played baseball at Murrah High School in Jackson, Ms. If the name Murrah rings a bell maybe you read the novel or watched the movie The Help. The title character graduated from Murrah. Kathryn Stockett, the author of The Help graduated from Murrahten years after I did. Obviously very intelligent, she also graduated from…
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Sisler Field
A Pictorial Guide Nestled in the Southern end of the Tarpon Springs community is the little league complex. It sprung out of a gender gesture. The city recruited the St. Louis Browns back to Pinellas County in 1925. (The Browns, for their part, brought hall of famer George Sisler to town as the player/manager and…