Nashville Vols

History

Nashville's professional baseball history began in 1884 with the Nashville Americans, who played at Sulphur Spring Park, later renamed Athletic Park and Sulphur Dell. Subsequent teams included the Nashville Blues (1887), Nashville Tigers (1893–1894), Nashville Seraphs (1895), and Nashville Centennials (1897). After a three-year absence, baseball returned in 1901 when the Nashville Baseball Club was granted a franchise in the newly formed Class B Southern Association.

The team became the Nashville Volunteers in 1908. Over 61 seasons in the Southern Association, the Vols won eight league pennants, nine playoff championships, and four Dixie Series titles. The team sat out 1962 after the league's collapse and returned for a final season in the Double-A South Atlantic League in 1963 before ceasing operations.

Season-by-season records

Over 9,015 regular-season games, the Vols compiled a 4,569–4,446 (.507) record. They reached the postseason 16 times, posting a 108–74–1 (.593) mark.

Their best season was 1940, when they finished 101–47 (.682); their worst was 1906, at 45–92 (.328). As a Brooklyn Dodgers affiliate from 1938 to 1940, they achieved a composite 270–181 (.599) regular-season record and won one pennant, two playoff championships, and one Dixie Series. Their lowest record came in 1963 as a Los Angeles Angels affiliate, finishing 53–86 (.381) with no postseason appearance.

Ballpark

The Vols played at Athletic Park, renamed Sulphur Dell in 1908, located north of the Tennessee State Capitol in downtown Nashville. The original wooden grandstand, built in 1885, was remodeled before the 1901 season to seat 2,200. A new grandstand was built in 1908, and the right field bleachers were replaced in 1921. After the 1926 season, the ballpark was demolished and rebuilt as a concrete-and-steel structure with home plate on the west side, facing northeast.

The new outfield distances were 334 feet to left, 421 to center, and 262 to right. The field featured a steep 25-foot terrace sloping at a 45-degree angle along the outfield wall, most dramatically in right and center fields. Right fielders, who often played on a 10-foot shelf one-third up the incline, were called "mountain goats." The shelf was occasionally used for overflow seating, reducing the right field distance to 235 feet. Seating capacity after the rebuild was 7,500.

Achievements

Eight Vols won the Southern Association Most Valuable Player Award, the most of any team in the league: Greek George (1940), Ed Sauer (1943), Chuck Workman (1948), Carl Sawatski (1949), Bob Schultz (1950), Jack Harshman (1953), Bob Lennon (1954), and Stan Palys (1957). Jim O'Toole won the league's Rookie of the Year Award in 1958.

Two former Vols were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame: outfielder Kiki Cuyler (1968) and pitcher Waite Hoyt (1969). Cuyler played for Nashville in 1923, batting .340 with 195 hits, 39 doubles, and 17 triples. Hoyt, on loan from the New York Giants in 1918, posted a 5–10 record with 51 strikeouts in 20 games before being recalled.

Did You Know?

• The Vols' first no-hitter was pitched by Bill Dammann on July 9, 1902, against the Shreveport Giants; the game was called due to rain in the fifth inning with Nashville leading 8–0.
• Tom Rogers pitched the only perfect game in Volunteers history on July 11, 1916, retiring all 27 Chattanooga batters in a 2–0 victory.
• The team's name was chosen in a 1908 contest held by sportswriter Grantland Rice; the winning name was Volunteers, beating out Limerocks and Rocks.
• The Vols won the 1908 Southern Association pennant on the final day of the season with a 1–0 shutout over New Orleans, which Rice called 'the greatest game ever played in Dixie.'
• Over 62 seasons, the Vols played 9,198 regular-season and postseason games combined, compiling a record of 4,677–4,520–1 (.509).