Guzzardi: Historic Baseball Trail starts in Hot Springs, Arkansas, but doesn’t end there
From SABR member Joe Guzzardi at NoozHawk on March 8, 2020:
From the late-1880s through the mid-20th century, more than 300 Major League Baseball players trained in Hot Springs, Arkansas, to benefit from the city’s thermal waters, a cure for the winter’s excessive food and alcohol consumption.
Cap Anson, the Hall of Fame first baseman for the Chicago White Stockings from 1876 through 1897, was one of the first to enjoy the waters’ remedy. Others HOFers who passed through Hot Springs included Hank Aaron, Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Jackie Robinson, Honus Wagner and Cy Young.
Babe Ruth, then with the Boston Red Sox, stamped his indelible mark on Hot Springs when he hit a 573-foot grand slam home run before 18,000 delirious fans.
Sam “Wahoo” Crawford is another dead ball-era HOFer whose outstanding career is sadly lost in the sands of time. Crawford, who answered to “Wahoo” as a nod to his Nebraska hometown, was quirky but between 1899 and 1917 a dominant power slugger, mainly for the Detroit Tigers.
Read the full article here: https://www.noozhawk.com/article/joe_guzzardi_historic_baseball_trail_starts_hot_springs_arkansas_20200308
Originally published: March 9, 2020. Last Updated: March 9, 2020.