The
Yankees and Spring Training
Harvey
Frommer Sports
It’s that time of year where hope springs eternal for fans of baseball
teams and for Yankee fans there is a long and special history of magical and
amazing moments. Just a sampling follows:
1905-1906: After spending two springs in
Atlanta, manager Clark Griffith moved his team to Alabama in 1905-1906. That
first year the Highlanders stayed in Montgomery at the Highland Oval. Players
march to and from the team hotel, which was located two miles away, to the
playing field, In 1906, the team camp was at the Birmingham Training Grounds f
1907-1912: The Yankees in Georgia during this
time played in Atlanta, Macon, Athens and then Atlanta again.
1913: Seeking sanctuary from the cold and
rain that had been present during previous spring trainings, the Yankees moved
their camp outside of the country for the first and only time. On March 3, most
of the team and support staff sailed to Hamilton, Bermuda. A converted cricket field was used as the
practice facility.
1914: Houston, Texas is the Yankees spring
training site.
1915-1918: Under manager Bill Donovan,
the Yankees returned to Georgia that included a three-year stay in Macon, the
team’s longest stay at one location to that point in time.
1919-1920: The Yankees became part of growing
trend relocating its spring training to Florida in 1919. All three New York
teams were there, the Giants in Gainesville, the Yankees and Dodgers in
Jacksonville. “The clubs expect to benefit by the arrangement, for it will give
each club the advantage of playing against major league opposition from the
very start of the training season,” noted the New York Times.
1920: Newly acquired Babe Ruth was part
of the 1920 spring training environment. At an exhibition game he went into the
bleachers to mix it up with a taunting fan. When the fan showed off his knife,
Ruth backed off and went back to the safety of the playing field. Had Ruth not
held his temper, the whole course of Yankee history may have been different.
1921-1924: Louisiana was the spring training
location for the Yankees. In 1921, they trained in Shreveport. From 1922 to 1924, the club trained in New
Orleans. T
1925-1942: St. Petersburg, Florida and the New York Yankees had a
longstanding and highly successful relationship.
1943-1945:
World War II precluded teams traveling very far from home for spring
training. In 1943, the Yankees made use of a high school in Asbury Park, New
Jersey. The final two years of the war saw them training in the 112th Field
Artillery Armory and playing exhibition games at Bader Field in Atlantic City.
1946-1950: The Yankee returned to St.
Petersburg, Florida when WWII was over. In 1947, they moved into a new stadium,
Al Lang Field. It was joint home for the Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals.
1951: Spring training was in Arizona, the
first and only time for the Yankees. The one-year trade-off of training sites
was a courtesy by the New York Giants to Yankees’ co-owner and vice president
Del Webb, who hailed from Phoenix.
1952-1961: It was back to St. Petersburg in
1952 for the Yankees. As the fifties moved on New York was dissatisfied with
what was perceived as favoritism toward the Cardinals with whom they shared the
spring training site with. There was a Yankee disappointment with spring
training proceeds that went to the city. The spring of 1961 was the last for
the Yankees in St. Petersburg. Yankee co-owner Dan Topping said: “In St.
Petersburg, we practice on one field and play on another. In Fort Lauderdale,
we would have the town to ourselves”.
1962-1995: The Yankees brand new $600,000 Ft.
Lauderdale Stadium is ready for spring training. The ballpark broke new ground
with seating for 8,000, air-conditioned clubhouses, on-site offices.
1996-Present: The Yankees moved to
George Steinbrenner’s adopted home town, Tampa, Florida. Legends Field, a
state-of-the-art $30 million facility with identical dimensions to Yankee
Stadium, received rave reviews. Seating capacity was 10,200 and expanded to
11,026 in 2007. It was re-named George
M. Steinbrenner Field in 2008.
Terrific selected
tidbits
JERRY COLEMAN: Spring training of
1948 I was trying to make the Yankees. I
was the last man cut. I played for the Newark Bears in the International League
and came up to the Yankees at the end of the season.
Going north from spring training, we'd pass
through small towns and people would be out there early in the morning as the
train went by, waving to us. I don't know how they got the word - but we'd be
having our breakfast in the diner and they'd be there.
In
spring training 1951, former Yankee outfield star Tommy Henrich was assigned to
mentor the young and talented prospect. After a while the former star Yankee
outfielder said: “There isn't any more that I can teach him."
Casey Stengel that first spring switched
Mantle to the outfield and said: "I never saw a player who had greater
promise. That young fellow has me terribly confused. He should have a year in
Triple A Ball but with his combination of speed and power he should win the
triple batting crown every year. In fact, he should do anything he wants to
do.”
Later,
Casey who had seen it all, added: "They're been a lot of fast men but none
as big and strong as Mantle. He's gonna be around a long time, if he can stay
well, that fella of mine."
BILL SKOWRON: Casey would leave us alone to get in shape in spring
training. But when those last 10 days of spring training came around you knew
you had to be better ready to play.
In
spring training 1927, Babe Ruth bet pitcher Wilcy Moore $l00 that he would not
get more than three hits all season. A notoriously weak hitter, Moore somehow
managed six hits in 75 at bats. Ruth paid off his debt and Moore
purchased two mules for his farm naming them "Babe" and
"Ruth."
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One of the most prolific and
respected sports journalists and oral historians in the United States, author
of the autobiographies of legends Nolan
Ryan, Tony Dorsett, and Red
Holzman, Dr. Harvey Frommer is an expert on the New York Yankees and has
arguably written more books, articles and reviews on the New York Yankees than
anyone. He was honored by the City of New York to serve as historical
consultant for the re-imagined old Yankee Stadium site, Heritage Field
A professor for more than two
decades in the MALS program at Dartmouth College, Frommer was dubbed
“Dartmouth’s Mr. Baseball” by their alumni magazine. He’s also the founder of www.HarveyFrommerSports.com.
