Vince Staten

Take Me Out To The…Oh Never Mind

Baseball returns tonight, if you consider an abbreviated 60-game season with no fans in the stands a return. The Yankees play the Washington Nationals at 7 p.m.

While the Nationals may be direct descendants of the old Montreal Expos, they are the legacy of the long-gone Washington Senators. Yes, those Senators, famously known for an ineptitude that was celebrated by baseball writer Charley Dryden in 1904: “Washington, first in war, first in peace and last in the American League.”

The Senators were always pitiful in my lifetime. But once upon a time, which is the way fairy tales begin, they were good, very good – they won the World Series in 1924 and almost won again the next year when they were led by one of the greatest pitchers of all time, Walter “Big Train” Johnson.

In 1935 the Big Train came to Kingsport. He was the manager of the Cleveland Indians who passed through town on their way north from spring training in Florida. On Tuesday April 9, 1935 they stopped in Kingsport to play an exhibition game against the New York Giants at what was called D-B field, now the athletic field next to Sevier Middle School.

Walter Johnson wasn’t the only future Hall of Famer on the field that day.

The Giants were managed by “Memphis Bill” Terry, who also played first base. Also on that Giants squad were pitcher Carl Hubbell, outfielder Mel Ott, and shortstop Travis Jackson.They also featured a very young Tony Cuccinello, well known to fans of Dizzy Dean’s baseball broadcasts for his nickname, “Poosh ‘Em Up Tony.” And Mark Koenig, who played on those great Yankees teams of the twenties with Babe Ruth.

The Indians roster included future Hall of Famer Earl Averill and perennial All-Star Hal Trotsky.

Thanks to my friend – and bowling partner when we finished second in the Warpath Lanes Christmas Tournament in 1960 - David Good, I have a copy of that program. David got it from an elderly gentleman who had attended the game as a boy and wanted to pass it along to another baseball fan. And David had a copy made for me.

The program is interesting for more than just the baseball photos and factoids that are chocked into its 36 pages, but also for all the ads for local Kingsport businesses. It’s like a snapshot of the city in 1935, when the town wasn’t yet 20 years old.

There are ads for J. Fred Johnson & Co. Department Store and Freels Drug; Bennett & Edwards Insurance Service and Blue Gem Coal.

You don’t have to love baseball to love this program.

Here are a few pages from what the Kingsport Times called “the premier baseball event of the history of this entire section.”

Six-thousand fans turned out.

Ah, but the historic event was a bit of a letdown; played under “threatening skies and a biting wind,” the game ended in a 1-1 tie.