Nashville Americans
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| Nashville Americans 1885 – 1886 Nashville, Tennessee |
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The Nashville Americans was a minor league baseball team of the Southern League based in Nashville, Tennessee from 1885 to 1886. The team was one of eight charter members of the newly formed league and the first professional baseball team in Nashville. They played their home games at Athletic Park.
[edit] Team history
Beginning play in 1885, the Nashville Americans were a charter member of the newly formed Southern League. Their home ballpark was called Athletic Park, which would later come to be known as Sulphur Dell. With a distance of 262 feet to the right field wall, it was a notorious hitter's park.
Prior to the inaugural season, the Americans hosted the Chicago White Stockings for spring training. Chicago competed in exhibition games against the Americans, local semi-pro clubs, and the Vanderbilt University team.[1]
The Americans played their first game on May 4, 1885 against the Columbus Stars. First baseman Leonard Sowders led off the first inning reaching first base on an error. Batting second was third baseman James Hillery who scored the team's first hit. Second baseman John Cullen also reached base on an error. Shortstop Joe Werrick later stepped up to the plate hitting a triple, scoring Hillery and Cullen. Those would be Nashville's only runs of the game, a 2-3 loss in front of the home crowd.[1]
During a road trip to Atlanta, Georgia, on August 14, the Americans and the Atlanta Atlantans were involved in a tragic death as the result of rough play on the field. Atlanta's first baseman, Louis Henke, hit the ball and ran for first base. He collided with Nashville’s first baseman, Charles Marr, with such force that Henke fell to the ground. He then stood up, staggered, and fell again. He was taken to a local hospital where doctors diagnosed him with a ruptured liver, an injury which would cause his death later that evening. To support his widow, the Southern League played benefit games in each city that fielded a team that season.[2]
Nashville finished their first season of play in third place with a 55-37 record. Americans first baseman Leonard Sowders was the league’s first batting champion with a .309 batting average.[3]
The Americans played again in 1886, but it would be their final season. Their last game was held on September 4, 1886. The contest against Savanah resulted in a 9-10 Nashville loss.[4] They ended the season with a 46-43 record, putting them in third place.[3] This was the last season that the Americans were fielded as a team. The franchise folded after the 1886 season, but Nashville was not without baseball in 1887, as a new team was fielded, called the Nashville Blues.
[edit] Season-by-season results
| Nashville Americans | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Record | Win % | Finish |
| 1885 | 55-37 | .598 | 3rd |
| 1886 | 46-43 | .456 | 3rd |
| Totals | 101-80 | .558 | - |
[edit] References
- ^ a b Traughber, Bill. "Looking Back: The 1885 Nashville Americans." Nashville Sounds. 8 May 2006. 21 March 2008.
- ^ Traughber, Bill. "Looking Back: Baseball Deaths Involve Nashville." Nashville Sounds. 15 May 2006. 21 March 2008.
- ^ a b Traughber, Bill. "Looking Back: 1885 Americans Return To Nashville (Part 2 Of 2)." Nashville Sounds. 174 June 2004. 21 March 2008.
- ^ Traughber, Bill. "Looking Back: 1885 Americans Return To Nashville (Part 1 Of 2)." Nashville Sounds. 14 June 2004. 21 March 2008.
