The Nashville Americans were a minor league baseball team that played in the Class B Southern League from 1885 to 1886. They were located in Nashville, Tennessee, and played their home games at Sulphur Spring Park, later known as Sulphur Dell.
The team was formed on October 6, 1884, as Nashville's first professional baseball team. They played several exhibition games against major league teams that fall at the Nashville Fairgrounds as they sought admission to the Union Association, one of three major leagues at the time. Instead, they were selected as charter members of the Southern League for the next season.
The 1885 Americans were managed at different times by local player Will Bryan, second baseman Nate Kellogg, and local businessman John R. Mayberry. They played well throughout the season and compiled a 62–39 (.614) record, placing third. They spent the majority of the season in either second or third place. Led by left fielder Walt Goldsby, the 1886 team played well but finished in a distant third place with a record of 46–38 (.548).
History
Formation
Baseball was first played in Nashville, Tennessee, by amateur teams in the late 1860s. By summer 1884, the city was home to countless teams, with an estimated 20 clubs being formed that year alone. The various teams played at fields around town, including East Nashville's Spring Park, the Nashville Fairgrounds, Fort Negley, Vanderbilt University, and Sulphur Spring Bottom.
On October 6, 1884, the American Baseball Association, a local stock company with US$1,000 in capital, met to establish the city's first professional baseball team. The club was to be known as the Americans in honor of The Nashville Daily American newspaper, which, in addition to the Nashville Banner, provided scores and accounts of the city's many baseball games. Will Bryan, a well-known local player, was selected to manage the team. He promptly left for Cincinnati with instructions to hire first-class players with no regard to their cost.
The Union Association, one of three major leagues in operation in 1884, considered the Americans for membership in the 1885 season. On October 10, President Henry Lucas came to Nashville to meet with the team's directors and to survey the prospect of major league baseball in the city. That afternoon at the fairgrounds, the Americans played their first exhibition game against one of the association's top teams, the Cincinnati Outlaw Reds. Approximately 1,200 to 1,500 people were in attendance as the Outlaw Reds won, 6–3. The Americans were defeated again in the next afternoon's game, 11–2. On October 12, Nashville lost to an amateur team from Georgetown, Kentucky, 4–1. The home team won its only games of the autumn exhibition season on October 19 and 20, defeating the Georgetowns, 6–2 and 9–3. The Louisville Eclipse of the major American Association came to Nashville for two games on November 1 and 2, winning both, 7–6 and 9–7.
On November 7, club directors signed a five-year contract to lease the baseball grounds at Sulphur Spring Bottom on which they would build a ballpark to be called Sulphur Spring Park. Located just north of the Tennessee State Capitol, the site was owned by the Sulphur Spring Company, which used the property for providing hot and cold baths with water from its natural sulphur springs. The land had hitherto been little more than solely a baseball field and required improvements to make it suitable for a professional team. The old bath houses were demolished and replaced with new ones, and the grounds were graded, leveled, sowed with grass, and enclosed by a fence. A grandstand was erected in the northeastern corner of the block near the intersection of Cherry Street (Fourth Avenue North) and Jackson Street.
With the possibility of membership in Union Association looking dim, Bryan attended a meeting of Southern baseball men on November 25 in Montgomery to organize the Southern League for 1885. Though a tentative membership was arranged, the final league makeup was not determined until another meeting on February 11 at the Kimball House in Atlanta, where franchises were granted to Atlanta, Augusta, Chattanooga, Columbus, Macon, Memphis, and Nashville, with Birmingham later admitted from a pool of applicants.
Spring training 1885
Bryan's players reported to Nashville to prepare for the coming season, with their first practice being held on March 6. Two of the 10 men who began the season with the Americans had played on major league teams the previous year. Alex Voss, the more experienced of the two, pitched in 34 games for the Kansas City Cowboys and Washington Nationals of the Union Association. Joe Werrick played a few games for the Union St. Paul White Caps. Their spring training regimen consisted of several series of exhibition games against amateur, minor, and major league teams, many of which traveled south to prepare for their seasons in a warmer climate.
In their first two games, held at the not-yet-completed Sulphur Spring Park on March 30 and 31, the Americans lost to the Indianapolis Hoosiers of the minor Western League, 8–4 and 12–4. Nashville defeated the Cleveland Forest Cities of the same league, 15–7 and 3–2, on April 1 and 2. They then traveled to Chattanooga for a game against the Southern League's Chattanooga Lookouts on April 6, losing 6–5. Rain prevented playing a second day's game, but the teams returned to Nashville for two more games on April 8 and 9. Nashville won both, 12–3 and 4–3. Nearly 4,000 people were in attendance at Sulphur Spring Park as the National League's Chicago White Stockings defeated the Americans, 4–2, on April 10. They then played two final warm-up games against an amateur club from Montgomery on April 13 and 14, winning 10–7 and 18–5.
The 1885 season
The Nashville Americans were scheduled to begin the Southern League championship season of 1885 with a road trip beginning on April 15 at Columbus. Though several players were not placed at their regular positions, the Opening Day roster consisted of pitcher Billy Crowell; catcher James Hillery; first baseman Len Sowders; second baseman Ed McKean; third baseman Joseph Deistel; shortstop Joe Werrick; left fielder George Rhue; center fielders Will Bryan and Tony Hellman; and right fielder Alex Voss.
Sowders led off the season opener against the Columbus Stars with a double and came home to score on Hillery's base hit and a wild throw to first. Hillery scored later in the first inning, putting Nashville up 2–0. The Americans proceeded to hold the lead for the entire game, with the decisive run being scored by Deistel in the seventh. Nashville won its inaugural regular season game, 11–9. They continued their opening road trip with two more games against Columbus before going on to Birmingham, Macon, and Augusta. In an early move to strengthen the roster, they added outfielder John Cullen to the roster on April 21. The Americans returned home in third place with a record of 7–4 (.636).
The Sulphur Spring Park home opener took place on May 4 against Columbus. In the top of the first, Werrick hit a two-RBI triple scoring Hillery and Cullen, but these were to be Nashville's only runs of the game. Tied 2–2 in the fifth, a bad throw allowed Columbus to score the winning run. Voss pitched well in the 3–2 Nashville loss, allowing only three runs on five hits and striking out four, but opposing pitcher Doc Landis held the Americans to just two runs on five hits. Errors, five by Nashville and four by Columbus, hampered both teams as none of the game's five runs were earned. Down by a significant score in the next day's game, Nate Kellogg, a newly acquired second baseman, moved over to pitch in relief in the 10–2 loss. After a third defeat by Columbus, the Americans got their first home win against the Birmingham Coal Barons, 12–5, on May 9. Hillery led Nashville's offence that day with a single, a double, two triples, and three runs scored. Outfielders Ollie Beard and Lefty Marr, formerly on Chicago's spring training roster, were acquired and made their Americans debut on May 11. Crowell pitched a near no-hitter against Birmingham on May 12, with Al McCauley recording the only hit against him in the 10–0 shutout.
The stockholders of the club made several changes beginning on May 19 in response dissension among the team in the form of negligent play and possible thrown games. Manager Bryan was released before that afternoon's game. Kellogg was selected as manager and team captain on May 20. Beard and Deistel were named first and second assistant captains. McKean and Rhue were also released. The club, at the request of other Southern League teams, which were all named for their respective cities, changed the name of the club to the Nashville Base Ball Association. From that point onward, the local press dropped all references to the "Americans", and the team was usually referred to as simply Nashville or the Nashvilles. On May 30, Toad Ramsey of the visiting Chattanooga Lookouts pitched a no-hitter against Nashville in a game where only three locals reached base, two via walks and one on an error. At the end of the first full month of play, Nashville stood in second place with a 14–11 (.560) record behind Atlanta.
Beginning with the June 3 game at Memphis, telegraph operators began to report in detail the team's road games at the Masonic Theater. They utilized a blackboard bearing the image of a diamond with holes around the edges through which flags would be inserted to indicate each player's performance play-by-play. The presentations were attended by enthusiastic, cheering audiences.
At the end of the short cross-state trip, Kellogg resigned as manager, feeling overwhelmed by the responsibility in addition to playing and being team captain. John R. Mayberry, a stockholder and businessman in the field of insurance, took control on June 7. Though briefly falling to third place, the Nashvilles played well after the managerial change and retained second by July 3 due in part to a nine-game winning streak from June 17 to 27. Going into Independence Day, nearly the half-way point of the season, they held a 31–19 (.620) record, six games out of first.
Looking to bolster the roster for their run at the pennant, several players were added and subtracted in July. Right fielder John Sneed was added on July 6. Pitcher Gus Shallix made a favorable debut in a July 14 win in which he allowed only two runs on five hits. Some 3,000 people attended an exhibition game against the American Association's Louisville Colonels at Sulphur Spring Park on July 17, which was won by the major leaguers, 9–6. Shallix was released with a sore arm on July 25, and Kellogg was released on July 27. As the Nashvilles continued to chase first-place Atlanta, three more pitchers were acquired. Amateur pitcher William Walton was added on a trial basis on July 29, but, doubting his own ability and unwilling to harm the team, he received his requested release on August 1. Billy Taylor debuted on July 31 when a lone base hit and a fielding error kept his first outing from being a perfect game against Chattanooga. Norm Baker, acquired from Louisville, gave up only two runs on three hits in his first appearance on August 6.