1908 Nashville Vols season

The 1908 Nashville Vols season was the 15th season of minor league baseball in Nashville, Tennessee, and the Nashville Vols' 8th season in the Southern Association.[1] The Vols finished the previous season in last place, but this year won the league pennant, by defeating he New Orleans Pelicans 1-0 on the last day of the season in a game dubbed by Grantland Rice "The Greatest Game Ever Played In Dixie."[2][3][4]

1908 Nashville Vols
Team photo
Minor league affiliations
Location
Results
Record7556 (.573)
League place1st
Other information
Owner(s)Ferdinand E. Kuhn
Manager(s)Bill Bernhard
 Previous season     Next season 

This is also the season Rice dubbed the ballpark Sulphur Dell.[5] The team's player-manager was Bill Bernhard.[6][7] The team featured just two players from Tennessee: Pryor McElveen and Hub Perdue. First baseman Jake Daubert led the league in home runs with six.[8]

Before the season

The Vols finished last place in the Southern Association in 1907. A new group of men purchased the team, including Ferdinand E. Kuhn, James B. Carr, Thomas James Tyne, J. T. Connor, James A. Bowling, Robert L. Bolling, Rufus E. Fort, and William G. Hirsig. Well known attorney S. A. Champion supplied legal services. The group envisioned an ambitious project of stadium renovations at Sulphur Dell, and managed to cull $50,000. Kuhn was selected to head the Board of Directors.[9] He went on a trip to Ponce de Leon Park in Atlanta to observe a modern park and plan renovations.[10]

Kuhn hired Bill Bernhard as manager.

Schedule

Game log

1908 Game Log (75–56)
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = No decision
Bold = Vols team member

Reference:[11]

Opening day

Grantland Rice accompanied the team to Atlanta. President Kuhn ordered a line score hung up on a slate board outside Sulphur Dell, for local fans to follow the game.[12]

Mike McCormick leaves

On June 15, team captain Mike McCormick had a heated exchange with fans and ultimately abandoned the team.[13]

Despite this, the Vols changed the team and went on a winning streak as a result. On June 20 in an 80 win over Montgomery, Butler hit a then-rare, outside-the-park home run.[14]

Seventeen inning contest

The seventeen-inning game on July 9 against Mobile was declared a tie. Both pitchers received praise, and Hamilton Love wrote Perdue "has done more than any one man to hold up the team."[15]

Carl Sitton's debut

On August 7, Southern Association rookie Sitton debuted against the Crackers, winning a close game 21 and striking out eight.[16]

Hub Perdue's doubleheader

On September 3, Hub Perdue pitched a shutout until the final inning, when he let a run across. He then insisted on pitching the second game of a doubleheader, and pitched a shut-out win.[17]

John Duggan's no-hitter

On September 10, Nashville's John Duggan pitched a no-hitter, the second in team history, against the Little Rock Travelers at Sulphur Dell. Only two Little Rock batters reached base, one via walk and another on a fielding error. Nashville's Pryor McElveen, who had earlier misplayed the ball at third, drove in Doc Wiseman in the sixth inning for the only run of the game, a 1–0 win.[18][19]

Last game vs. New Orleans

According to one account, "By one run, by one point, Nashville has won the Southern League pennant, nosing New Orleans out literally by an eyelash. Saturday's game, which was the deciding one, between Nashville and New Orleans was the greatest exhibition of the national game ever seen in the south and the finish in the league race probably sets a record in baseball history".[20]

Carl Sitton's spitball defeated Ted Breitenstein 10 in the "Greatest Game".[21] Sitton pitched a complete-game, nine-strikeout, four-hit, shutout.

Nashville scored in the bottom of the seventh inning. With two outs, catcher Ed Hurlburt hit a single. Then Sitton did too. Harry "Deerfoot" Bay bunted perfectly down the third base line to load the bases, Bay's fondest memory in his long baseball career.[22] Doc Wiseman then drove in the winning run. Sitton was thrown out at home after Hurlburt scored.[22] The time of the game was one hour and forty-two minutes.[2]

The decisive Nashville-New Orleans game

Standings

Season standings

Bill Bernhard, the team's manager.
Team W L Pct. GB
Nashville Vols 7556.573
New Orleans Pelicans 7657.571
Memphis Egyptians 7362.5414
Montgomery Senators 6865.5118
Mobile Sea Gulls 6767.500912
Atlanta Crackers 6372.46714
Little Rock Travelers 6276.4491612
Birmingham Barons 5382.39324
Source:[23]

Record vs. opponents

A game at Sulphur Dell, 1908
Team ATL BIR LR MEM MOB MTG NAS NO
Atlanta 11–812–89–107–1210–106–138–11
Birmingham 9–1111–97–1310–96–129–102–18
Little Rock 8–129–1110–911–98–129–107–13
Memphis 10–93–79–1012–910–98–1111–7
Mobile 12–79–109–119–1211–76–1211–8
Montgomery 10–1012–612–89–107–1110–98–11
Nashville 13–610–910–911–812–69–1010–8
New Orleans 11–818–213–77–118–1111–88–10
Source:[24]

Roster

Doc Wiseman, "The Hero of the Dell".

Twenty-four players competed for the Vols over the course of the season.[25] Of these, Daubert, Butler, Wiseman, Perdue, and Sitton were named by Nashville Banner sportswriters Fred Russell and George Leonard to an all-time team consisting of top Nashville players from 1901 to 1919.[26]

1908 Nashville Vols
Roster
Pitchers
  • John Duggan
  • Bill Sorrells
Catchers
  • Ed Hurlburt
  • Warren Seabough

Infielders

  • Walter East
  • John Hess
  • Henry Jansing
  • Frank Morse
Outfielders
  • Al Decker
Manager

Player stats

Starters

"Deerfoot" Bay was the team's leadoff hitter.

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; AVG = Batting average; SLG = Slugging percentage; SB = Stolen bases

Batting order[lower-alpha 1] Pos Player G AB R H AVG SLG SB
1LFHarry Bay 10341545112.270.28919
7SSKid Butler 13648036127.265.32113
61BJake Daubert 13847349124.262.36813
32BWalter East
43BPryor McElveen 13851466146.284.37215
5CFJohnny Siegle 12242852114.266.33916
2RFDoc Wiseman 13852577132.251.30130

Others

Pos Player G AB R H AVG SLG SB
CFAl Decker
CJack Hardy 601942240.206.28912
CEd Hurlburt
3BHenry Jansing
SSMike McCormick 481731645.260.28312
CWarren Seabough 963341690.269.2905

Pitchers

Pos Player G AB R H AVG SLG SB
PBill Bernhard 1551210.196.2160
PJohn Duggan 3397617.175.1860
P/IFJohn Hess 71904.211.2111
P/OFGeorge Hunter 602013353.264.33318
PWin Kellum 26781014.179.2180
PHub Perdue 34101816.158.1680
PCarl Sitton 103326.182.1820
PStan Yerkes 61203.250.2500
Source:[25]

Starting pitchers

Hub Perdue

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; W% = Winning percentage

Player G W L W%
John Duggan 341912.613
Win Kellum 24159.625
Hub Perdue 321612.571

Other pitchers

Player G W L W%
Bill Bernhard 1476.538
Jake Daubert
John Hess 725.286
George Hunter 1485.615
Carl Sitton 1064.600
Bill Sorrells
Stan Yerkes 6
Source:[25]

Notes

  1. By August, the team's batting lineup had been settled as follows:[27]

References

Specific
  1. "Nashville, Tennessee Encyclopedia". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  2. The Reach Official American League Base Ball Guide For 1908. A.J. Reach Company. 1908. p. 215.
  3. Simpson, John A. (2007). The Greatest Game Ever Played In Dixie. ISBN 9780786430505.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  4. Simpson, John A. (2013). Hub Perdue: Clown Prince of the Mound. ISBN 0786472251.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  5. "Sports writer Grantland Rice credited with Sulphur Dell moniker". The Tennessean.
  6. Nipper, Skip (February 10, 2007). "Baseball in Nashville". Arcadia Publishing via Google Books.
  7. "History of baseball at Sulphur Dell". The Tennessean.
  8. https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/leaders/l-SOUA/y-1908
  9. Simpson pp. 32, 180
  10. Grantland Rice (January 22, 1908). "In Sulphur Dell". The Tennessean. p. 8. Retrieved January 9, 2016 via Newspapers.com.
  11. Simpson, pp. 237-248
  12. Simpson, p. 60
  13. Simpson, p. 96
  14. Ibid, p. 101
  15. Ibid, p. 112
  16. Ibid. p. 129
  17. https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:BQ_8o5cH7qMJ:https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/118840964/+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
  18. McGill, Chuck. "Minor League No-Hitters". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved September 17, 2015.
  19. "No Hit Game for J. Duggan". Nashville Banner. Nashville. September 11, 1908. p. 12. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  20. Hamilton Love (October 10, 1908). "South Sayings" (PDF). Sporting Life: 16. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 13, 2015. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  21. "Looking Back: Nashville's Baseball Championships". MiLB.com.
  22. Simpson 2013, p. 62
  23. "1908 Southern Association". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  24. The Reach Official American League Base Ball Guide for 1908. A.J. Reach Company. 1908. p. 213.
  25. "1908 Nashville Volunteers Statistics". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved February 17, 2020.
  26. "Nashville Vols Year-by-Year Results" (PDF). 2015 Nashville Sounds Media Guide. Nashville Sounds. 2015. p. 201. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 7, 2015. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
  27. Simpson, p. 132
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