Looking Back: Vols Say Good-Bye in 1963
In 1960, New Orleans, another charter member gave up its franchise when low attendance forced the Pelicans out of the association. Also before the 1960 season began, Memphis' ballpark burned to the ground forcing the Chicks to play baseball in two municipal parks. They drew only 48,487 fans with an average of 600 per game. The Chicks folded at the end of that season.
The situation became worse in 1961 with only 647, 831 fans attending Southern Association games averaged 1,000 per game. The Southern Association could not support itself and after 61 years the circuit folded. The Nashville Vols had not won a pennant since 1949 and was a team without a league.
The old Sulphur Dell ballpark, home of the Vols, would not be silent in 1962 as it hosted local high school, amateur, junior league, barnstorming games and non-sporting events in 1962. In 1963, the Nashville Vols had re-emerged by joining old SA rivals Chattanooga and Macon in the South Atlantic League (SALLY). In 1959, the Nashville Vols became a corporation formed by 4,876 stockholders (Vols, Inc.) who were baseball fans. A Board of Trust overlooked the team's operation.
The 1963 attendance in Nashville was dismal. During the season rumors and speculation was circulating that professional baseball in Nashville would be no longer me after the year. In the Vols last game at Sulphur Dell, a doubleheader was played against Lynchburg. The Vols won both games, 6-3 and 2-1.
Nashville right fielder, Charlie Teuscher, clubbed three home runs on the day. He hit a three-run shot in the opening game and a walk-off solo blast in the eighth inning of the nightcap that went into extra innings. It had been announced before the final scheduled games at Sulphur Dell that a meeting would be held within the Board of Trust as to the final fate of the fan-owned Vols for the future. The few fans that attended both season-ending games were wondering if they were enjoying the final contest in Nashville.
Sports writer Raymond Johnson of the Tennessean wrote in his column:
"They came not to praise Caesar, but to bury him. They were not Shakespearean fans, those 971 who came to Sulphur Dell yesterday to pay their last respects to the Nashville Vols. They were dyed-in-the-wool lovers of baseball who came to see the farewell game in the nation's most historic park.
"They went away praising the Vols for a fine afternoon's performance, climaxed by Charlie Teuscher's home run, the blow which gave Southern League pitchers nightmares for more than 60 years. Charlie's drive, his third out-of-the-park for the day, gave the Vols a double victory for the faithful fans' memoirs.
"These fans, most of them fearing the worst but hoping something will turn up to enable baseball to continue here, came from many surrounding towns. Quite a few of the spectators have been watching games in the Dell for half a century.
"It was a day well worth driving more than 100 miles to get here. Talking with countless fans, all of them with the same hope, and seeing the 971 stand for perhaps 30 seconds when Teuscher homered before making a move to leave. Like me, they wondered if they would ever see a home run in Sulphur Dell again."
After the Board's September meeting, a decision was made that the Nashville Vols should surrender it's franchise in the South Atlantic League. The meeting was held at the Third National Bank with all 27 directors agreeing to the decision. They voted to leave the decision up to the stockholders, Vols, Inc., on whether to dispose of Sulphur Dell and the corporation.
It was reported that the corporation owed $22,000 after all the yearly income and expenses were calculated. The Vols did not have any cash assets. In 1965, country singer Faron Young formed a partnership to bring auto racing to Sulphur Dell. That enterprise lasted several weeks and Sulphur Dell Speedways was soon out of business.
F.M. Williams wrote this story in 1969 about the demolition of Sulphur Dell:
"About 35 people with a million memories said goodbye to Sulphur Dell yesterday. Shortly after 2 p.m., a giant claw was raised to the grandstand roof near the right field fence and took a giant bite out of one of Nashville's best-known landmarks.
"Within six to eight weeks, all that remains of what once was the nation's oldest baseball park will have vanished, the victim of the city's rapidly changing skyline. In its place, within the year, hopefully, will rise a $4 to $5 million 18-story merchandising mart. Gregg Industries, Inc., which bought the Dell from almost 5,000 baseball fans a few months ago for $255,00 will build the mart.
"But for the few who bothered to pay a last visit to the Dell, today and tomorrow gave way to yesterday, and its many memories of victory and defeat."
The mart project never materialized and the state of Tennessee eventually acquired the land, which became and remains in 2011 a parking lot. Of the 35 people attending the first day demolition was Mrs. Jim Turner the wife of former New York Yankee pitching coach and manager of the Vols in 1960. Mrs. Turner brought her home movie camera and took plenty of film of the worn out ballpark before the wrecking ball went to work.
Nashville's first professional baseball teams were the 1885-86 Americans, a charter member of the Southern League, which folded in 1899. Other teams to represent our city in the Southern League include the Nashville Blues (1887), Nashville Tigers (1894) and the Nashville Seraphs (1895).
The Sulphur Dell site hosted baseball games since the early 1860s. The area known as Sulphur Bottom was located near a sulphur springs, which attracted picnickers, traders and citizens for a time of relaxation. The first ballpark was known as Sulphur Springs Park and later Athletic Park. Grantland Rice gave the ballpark its name Sulphur Dell in the first decade of the 20th century.
The Nashville Vols would win nine Southern Association pennants (1901-02, 1908, 1916, 1940, 1943, 1944, 1948 and 1949. Sulphur Dell was infamous for its notorious incline lining the outfield wall and the steep right field with a 30-foot screen perched atop the 16-foot fence just 262 feet from home plate.
Nashville would again acquire a minor league team in 1978 with the Double-A Nashville Sounds of the Southern League. A new ballpark was built and named for Herschel Greer, an avid baseball fan and supporter of Nashville youth baseball. Greer was one of the organizers of Vols, Inc. and headed the drive to sell stock in an effort to keep baseball in Nashville.
With Greer Stadium now hosting the Sounds in its 34th year, discussions have been made in recent years and weeks for a new downtown baseball stadium. One of the sites proposed for this new ballpark is the old plot that was once Sulphur Dell.
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