John (Johnny) Andrew Beazley, born on May 25, 1918, was a right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Braves.As a rookie in 1942, Beazley went 21–6 with a 2.13 ERA for the Cardinals. Hi...

I want to introduce you to someone who is an historian, educator, vintage base ball player (yes, base ball is two words in vintage baseball), web developer, and contributor to the history of the 19th Century game.His name is Chris Ryland...

Invited to a Nashville tryout, Morristown’s Warren “War” Sanders made the team and remained with the club for two seasons.Instrumental in Nashville’s first two Southern Association championships in 1901 and 1902 when the left-hander was ...

You will probably not have a clue who the my choice is as  “Father of Nashville 19th Century Baseball.” His name is Will Bryan, and he did not even start out as a baseball man. His exploits are remarkable albeit he was also a b...

The Nashville Sounds Minor League Baseball team was established in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1978, after Larry Schmittou and a group of investors purchased the rights to operate an expansion franchise of the Double-A Southern League. The Sounds ...

Negro Leagues baseball history, with emphasis on the last five years or so, which has generated interest among fans throughout the country, has a way to go.The year 2020 celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Negro Natio...

I have had folks ask me how I came up with the handle “Mr. Sulphur Dell.” You may be surprised that I did not give it to myself.In this episode, I tell how it came about while filling you in on the importance of other baseball nicknames....

Raymond Johnson spent many years in the sports department at the Nashville Tennessean, the local morning newspaper.He would often revisit the past in his "One Man's Opinion" sports columns. Although he loved all sports, from foo...

Nashville high school baseball goes way back, as far back as there have been school teams, helping to set the foundation of local sports.One of the more exciting years I have read about was in 1956, when a few of the high school teams th...

Nashville's unique baseball charm is evident in its rich history of amateur leagues, some dating back to the 19th Century. These leagues were not just about competition, but also about the whimsical "for the championship of the city" challenges...

To attract fans to Nashville's opening day in 1947, the Nashville Tennessean published a report on the history of Sulphur Dell by J. D. Brown. I read this article in the podcast; it gives a detailed account of when the ballpark was tra...

In 1938, a consolidation of farm clubs between Brooklyn and Nashville was agreed upon at an all-day conference in Cincinnati between Larry MacPhail, the new Dodgers boss, and Nashville owner, Fay Murray.But for the outbreak of World War ...

In the final season of the Nashville Vols in 1963, general manager Ed Doherty declared August 30 as "George Archie Night" at the ballpark—a fitting tribute to a local hero.Archie was a coach for the Nashville Vols at the time, an unpaid ...

Stephen W. Dittmore has over 20 years of experience as a higher education administrator and professor. He received a PhD from the University of Louisville in 2007 and holds bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from Drake University.

My brother Jim ("Jimbo," to me, mostly shortened to just "Bo") and I learned everything there was to know about The Game from our Dad, Virgil Nipper: how to throw, indeed, and how to hit.Jim sent me one of his unique perspectives not lon...

In 2005, the Nashville Sounds won the Pacific Coast League championship, the first pennant for the ball club since 1982.Teams are often pre-judged for success on where they are in the standings on Memorial Day.In this episode, you...

In what I have often termed, “the greatest coup in the history of the Southern Association”, on November 8, 1938, Nashville club owner Fay Murray shocked baseball fans, Southern Association moguls, and everyone in between by announcing he had c...

A baseball museum in Nashville could be a fantastic addition to the city's cultural landscape. Nashville already has strong ties to baseball, with a strong amateur baseball foundation, the Nashville Sounds, and the possibility of an MLB stadium...

Will General is the marketing director for Music City Baseball, the initiative is to bring MLB to Nashville as the "Nashville Stars.”He joined me to tell me how he is leading efforts to grow the Stars brand and how honoring the Negro Lea...

Umpires have been criticized and disparaged for years, yet they continue to uphold the integrity of the game. The pay scale is pretty good, but defending one's decision in the old days could lead to fights among players, managers, and fans....

On April 19, 1963, opening night in Knoxville before 2,827 fans to begin the season, Eddie Crawford stepped to the plate as the third batter in the first inning for Nashville, becoming the first Negro player to play in a regular season game for...

We often think of Tennessee State and Fisk Universities as institutes of higher learning in Nashville for African American students. Did you know at one time there was another Black university?Founded in 1866 as the Nashville Normal and ...

Would you venture a guess as to which year was Nashville professional baseball’s first championship?The answer is 1895, and the team had an unusual name: Seraphs. Other members of the Southern League were Atlanta, Evansville, Little Rock...

Before joining the Nashville Vols, Buddy Gilbert spent two seasons in Savannah, a Cincinnati Reds farm club, just like Nashville. One of his teammates in 1957 was Curt Flood, a 19-year-old prospect who played third base for the ball club.

In this episode, I tell about a special group of Nashville baseball fans and give special tribute to one of them. In 2003 Oktoberfest in Germantown, I first met Pete Mason who shared a special story that occurred at Sulphur Dell.Pete rec...