“The Greatest Game Ever Played in Dixie”

In 1908 baseball was the only game that mattered in the South. With no major league team in the region, rivalries between Southern Association cities such as Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis, and New Orleans were heated. This season, however, no city was as baseball-crazed as Nashville, whose Vols had been league doormat in 1907.
After an unpromising start, the Nashville club clawed its way into contention during the month of July, rising into the upper division, then into a battle for first. Local interest intensified, as the competitive fire of Nashville fans was stoked by sharp-tongued columnist Grantland Rice and the city’s three daily newspapers. By the time the Vols met the New Orleans Pelicans for a season-ending series, and the championship, the city was gripped by a pennant fever that shut down the commercial district. Nearly 13,000 people thronged the Nashville ballpark, Sulphur Dell, for the third and deciding contest. What they saw was described by Rice as “the greatest game ever played in Dixie.”

John A. Simpson is a retired high school history teacher and baseball coach. He holds a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Oregon. He lives in Kelso, Washington.

John A. Simpson
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 292
Bibliographic Info: 23 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2007
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3050-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1108-2
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      v

Preface      1

1. Nashville and the National Pastime in the Deadball Era      7

2. Going from Bad to ?      26

3. Play Ball      44

4. More of the Same      63

5. Month of Crises      83

6. In Search of Stability      100

7. Dog Days of Summer      119

8. Pennant Fever      142

9. The Greatest Game Ever Played in Dixie      159

10. Historic Legacy of the 1908 Nashville Vols      178

11. Life After Baseball      194

Appendix A: Players’ Careers      229

Appendix B: Linescores for the Vols’ 1908 Season      235

Appendix C: Should Jake Daubert Be in the Hall of Fame?      249

Chapter Notes      253

Bibliography      271

Index      277

“definitive…truly impressive and should be applauded…a fine job”—The Journal of Southern History; “impressive…well-written…valuable…fascinating”—Tennessee Library Association; “the author’s superb research efforts provide a nostalgic look at organized baseball in the South”—Nine.