Nashville Baseball History

Nashville is a Big League city despite never having been home to a major league team. From the Civil War era, to star-studded exhibitions, to outstanding Negro Leagues teams, to some of the great minor league franchises of all time, few cities have as rich a baseball tradition as Nashville, Tennessee.

Nashville sports historian Bill Traughber, who has been writing about baseball for nearly two decades, traces that 130+ year history from its beginnings to today. Featuring 32 essays, detailed player profiles and stats, timelines and seasonal results, and more than 80 photos—many of them previously unpublished—Nashville Baseball History: From Sulphur Dell to the Sounds—captures all the local flavor and passion of one of the south’s great baseball cities.  Featuring…

• An introduction by Farrell Owens, the Sounds’ first general manager and a key figure in the success and growth of Nashville baseball
• Visits from all-time greats, including Honus Wagner, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, Henry Aaron, Reggie Jackson, and many more
• The Nashville Vols, the classic minor league franchise from the first half of the 20th century
• Decades of African American baseball, featuring Nashville’s own “Turkey” Stearnes, a Hall of Famer, and Dodgers’ great “Junior” Jim Gilliam, now a local  icon
• The Nashville Sounds, whose fortunes took off when they became a New York Yankees affiliate, with future stars like Don Mattingly, Steve Balboni, and Willie McGee taking the field
• The Sounds’ ongoing success and popularity, which continue to grow today in their new home, First Tennessee Park
• Michael Jordan’s foray into professional baseball, as thrilling to fans as it was brief
• Interviews with fan favorite Skeeter Barnes, Buck Showalter, and part-owner and fan extraordinaire Richard Sterban of the Oak Ridge Boys