In 1911, decades before coast-to-coast travel became a fact of life in major league baseball, the Boston Red Sox embarked on the most ambitious spring training trip ever taken. After a full slate of games throughout California, the team decamped from Redondo Beach and made its way east, stopping in 10 states and the Arizona Territory, and playing in places such as Pueblo, Yuma, Wichita, and Lincoln—traveling exclusively by railroad. By the time the team finished up its preseason schedule, beating Harvard on their first day back in Boston, the Red Sox had played a staggering 63 games.

Bill Nowlin is the author of more than 25 books on the Boston Red Sox, as well as hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles. Currently, he is the assistant editor of Diehard magazine and co-founder of Rounder Records of Massachusetts.

Bill Nowlin
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 204
Bibliographic Info: 14 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2010
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6124-0
eISBN: 978-0-7864-6220-9
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      v

Preface      1

Introduction      3

1. The Origins of a Road Trip      9

2. 1911: The Season Ahead      16

3. A Grand Send-Off from Boston      29

4. Chronology of the Games      45

5. The Grand Switch      86

6. Heading Back East      118

7. Wrapping Up the Spring Season      156

8. Player Postscripts      169

Appendix A.: Spring Training Schedule and Results      181

Appendix B.: Train Schedule for the Red Sox Excursion      184

Chapter Notes      187

Bibliography      191

Index      193

Finalist, Larry Ritter Book Award—SABR
“comprehensive”—Redsox.com.