Category: St. Pete
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Coffee Pot Ballpark, Part 13
1915: Here Come the Phillies The happenstance of how the Phillies were led to select St. Pete can perhaps be credited to their chief scout and to the innkeeper of the Detroit Hotel. Capt. William Neal came to St. Pete in 1914 to look at the Browns prospects as the Phillies players were being poached…
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Back-To-Back-To-Back, Part 3
Part 3: Nate Oliver He was known from childhood to the big leagues as “Pee Wee”. Nate Oliver was the son of Jim Oliver a veteran Negro League player who settled in St. Pete. Pee Wee followed George Smith in the Gibbs High School lineage. He also played basketball for Gibbs. There is no record…
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Coffee Pot Ballpark, Part 12
Browns: Will They Stay or Will They Go? On March 24, 1914, the Browns have packed up and left town, barnstorming their way back to St. Louis. By all accounts their spring season in St. Pete was a success. Attendance was good, weather was better, and the Browns got enough work in to get off…
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Back-To-Back-To-Back, Part 2
Part 2: George Smith After Ed Charles leaves Gibbs High School, he is succeeded in Gibbs High School Athletics by Sophomore George Smith. Beginning in the fall of ’52, Smith plays three sports, football, basketball and baseball. He is a key reserve as a back in football his sophomore season. A highlight being a “pick…
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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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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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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…