Today, a trip to see a Major League Baseball spring training
game doubles as a spring break vacation to some sun-splashed locale. Maybe Fort
Myers, Tampa or West Palm Beach. Or, Phoenix or Mesa if you’re feeling some
Southwest spice.
But 100 years ago? You could see some of baseball’s biggest stars
right here in balmy, sunny West Baden Springs.
Crazy as it seems, West Baden was a primo location for MLB
teams to make a stop along their spring training journeys. Why visit a tiny
Midwestern town with the March chill hanging on? Read on for 10 things to know
about the spring training tradition of yesteryear. And if you want to see
old-time baseball recreated with a historic spin, be sure to circle the second
weekend of September to attend our Vintage Base Ball exhibition.
1.) Before today’s world of MLB teams holding spring training in
Florida or Arizona, only Hot Springs, Arkansas was a more popular destination
than West Baden for pro teams conducting their preseason training. From 1897
through 1922, 12 MLB teams (representing more than 75 percent of the pro teams
at the time) conducted conditioning or played exhibition games at West Baden.
2.) Pro athletes during this era weren’t the tip-top physical
specimens like they are today. For much of spring training, players focused on dropping
weight and adding strength, and didn’t play near as many exhibition games as
teams do today. They didn’t necessarily need a warm climate to accomplish the
running and exercising that they could do right here in the Springs Valley,
with the steep hills providing a challenging training ground.
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| Frank Chance of the Chicago Cubs |
3.) There was something magical in the water here. The famous mineral water, that is. Several baseball managers believed in the mineral water treatments where players could drink it to be cleansed of all the bad stuff that accumulated in the winter. The owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates was one who championed the power of the mineral water. So was Frank Chance, the famed player/manager of the Chicago Cubs.
4.) The Cubs stopped made stops here from 1906 through 1911,
meaning their spring regimen at West Baden was part of their World Series-winning
season of 1908. (As well as 1907 when they reached the World Series but lost.) Famed
pitcher Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown was another well-known Cub who trained
here during this time.
5.) Teams used the baseball field that was located just south of West Baden Springs Hotel. The ball diamond was contained within the
double-level bicycle track (pictured above). Teams and players also made good use of the bowling
alley and handball courts at the hotel to stay active.
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| Today, an open field and trees are all that occupy where the baseball field and bicycle track once were. |
6.) It’s believed that the St. Louis Cardinals (in 1911) were the only team to use the ball field here for their full, official spring training. Otherwise, teams had a spring training tour, of sorts, with West Baden usually being one of the first stops along the way.
8.) Other Major League teams that rolled through West Baden: the
Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago White Sox and former pro
teams like the Louisville Colonels, Cleveland Spiders and Boston Americans. It
wasn’t just the pros; minor league and Negro League teams frequented West Baden’s
baseball facility also.
9.) West Baden Springs Hotel even fielded its own baseball team
comprised of employees, called the West Baden Sprudels. They weren’t just some
intramural team playing for kicks. These guys were good. They even scrimmaged
or played exhibition games against three MLB teams — and even defeated one.
Pittsburgh’s manager took his team there to try a new
gimmick with an in-season practice to prep for big games at season’s end. As a
local newspaper article explained: They will
remain there two full days, lap up all that water in the springs, take morning
hikes and go through stiff daily exercise. (The team president) thinks that by
this means he will have them in fine condition for the deciding clash between
the Cubs and the Giants.
And from another newspaper account of that game that the
Sprudels beat the Pirates 2-1 on Sept. 11, 1911: The game was looked upon by the Pittsburghers as a mere practice game …
the league team received a dressing at the hands of the Sprudels.
10.) And if you’re wondering about the other two pro teams the
Sprudels played…
They played the Reds twice in 1913, falling 9-0 and 7-4 in a
game called for darkness after eight innings.
The Cubs played them in 1906 during their spring training
layover. It was more an informal scrimmage, but as an article from the Chicago
Tribune related, “the Sprudels gave the professionals adequate competition, a
respectable showing for waiters and bellhops. Those preseason games were
usually close contests.”