Category: St. Pete
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Dr. J. L. Moorefield and Moorefield Ballpark, 1920
Doc Moorefield became St. Pete’s Mr. Baseball for 1920 Epilogue Moorefield is done with baseball in St. Pete but not yet done with baseball. In 1921 he tries promoting a barnstorming team of Cubans he had brought over in 1920. He writes to a Fort Scott, Kan., franchise looking to schedule games for his “Cuban…
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Dr. J. L. Moorefield and Moorefield Ballpark, 1920
Doc Moorefield became St. Pete’s Mr. Baseball for 1920 Part 5 When speaking about the winter league team for the coming season, Moorefield drops a bombshell. He says he recently received a letter on behalf of “Shoeless” Joe Jackson. Jackson wishes to become manager of the St. Pete winter league club and he will bring…
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Dr. J. L. Moorefield and Moorefield Ballpark, 1920
Doc Moorefield became St. Pete’s Mr. Baseball for 1920 Part 4 1920 Indianapolis Indians at Moorefield Ballpark, St. Petersburg, Fl. On the field the Indians had a pretty good spring. They split two games with the Southern College nine, the first being prior to their full squad arriving and so early in camp that they…
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Dr. J. L. Moorefield and Moorefield Ballpark, 1920
Doc Moorefield became St. Pete’s Mr. Baseball for 1920 Part 3 The Nationals were set to visit on March 17. Moorefield somehow extracted a promise from Clark Griffith, the Nationals owner and manager, that Walter Johnson would pitch here. Not only was it St. Patrick’s Day, now it was Walter Johnson Day in St. Pete.…
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Dr. J. L. Moorefield and Moorefield Ballpark, 1920
Doc Moorefield became St. Pete’s Mr. Baseball for 1920 Part 2 Around the same time, Moorefield gets word from his winter league counterpart in Tampa that the Yankees are looking to relocate from Jacksonville for spring training. Moorefield immediately wires the Yankees business manager, W. H. Sparrow, about coming to St. Pete. Sparrow telegrams back…
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March Madness
Cardinal Style I got this anecdote from Bob Gibson in a book titled Baseball Under Siege: The Yankees, the Cardinals, and a Doctor’s Battle to Integrate Spring Training by Adam Henig, 2016. This occurred in spring training in St. Petersburg, Fl., either in 1959 or ’60. The negro players were segregated from their white Cardinal teammates…
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Dr. J. L. Moorefield and Moorefield Ballpark, 1920
Doc Moorefield became St. Pete’s Mr. Baseball for 1920 Part 1 Who is Dr. J. L. Moorefield? Is he a scoundrel? A philanthropist? A businessman trying to make it anyway he can? The man who perhaps saved St. Petersburg, Fla’s., aspirations to be a home for spring training baseball? I’ll leave those judgements up to…
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Did You Know?
During the 1916 – 17 training camp at Coffee Pot park, the Phillies had a young outfielder named Bud Weiser. * * * When the Braves came to play the Cardinals at Al Lang Field in 1952, their leadoff man was named Jack Daniels. * * * Also in 1952, March 9, combative…
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Coffee Pot Ballpark, Part 17
1919: Now what? Although no official release says that Phillies manager Pat Moran was released, the December 15, 1918, edition of The St. Petersburg Times indicates that Moran quit. The Times also reports the rumor that William Baker was looking to sell the team. Baker repeatedly denied and in fact, died in 1930 while still…
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Coffee Pot Ballpark, Part 16
1918: Where Did Everybody Go? The Phillies training in St. Pete finally came together. In December, owner William Baker originally decided not to come to St. Pete. An exchange of telegrams between Al Lang and Baker finally came to a resolution and the Phillies would come to train after all. The season would start later…