Gameday Magazine

Major League Baseb by: Vince Sawyer

This year marks the 88th year of profes- sional baseball in Lynchburg. Many of our local fans are somewhat familiar with our city’s rich “pro ball” history, dating from our first team in 1886. The Hill City also fielded teams in the mid 1890’s and early 1900’s. But it wasn’t until 1939 and the Lynchburg “Grays” that Lynchburg began to field teams consistently over a period of years. In August of 1962, through an affiliation with the Chicago White Sox, the Hill City became the home for a team the White Sox moved here from Savannah, Ga. Lynchburg has fielded a team every year since. And over Lynchburg’s long pro ball history, its teams have produced many outstand- ing Major League ball players. Two of them, Vic Willis and “Red” Schoendienst, have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. But there is another part of Lynchburg’s professional with: the Hill City has hosted 50 Major League exhibition games. Sometimes these games featured two Major League teams. Sometimes a Major League team played a local team. The first games were played in 1895; the most recent game, between the New York Mets and our L-Mets, was played in 1986 as part of Lynchburg’s Bicentennial Celebration. More than 50 future members of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown appeared in those games. Many of them appeared in multiple games. Most of them were players, but there were also a number of team managers. Who were these Hall of Famers? Would you believe Babe Ruth? How about Ty Cobb? Or Joe DiMag- gio? Ted Williams? Jackie Robinson? Roy Campanella? How about Managers Connie Mack and Casey Stengel? (See list ……..) baseball histo- ry which many of today’s fans are not familiar

Lynchburg’s location at the intersec- tion of several railroad lines provided a convenient stopping place for National and American League teams making the trip north to Washington, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York and Boston from their Spring Training bases further south. In 1914 Lynchburg was the Spring Training base for Pittsburgh of the Federal League (FL), a third Major League which operated for three years (1913-1915), and four exhibition games that year featured FL teams from Pitts- burgh, Baltimore and Buffalo, N.Y. What follows is Part 1 of a two-part recap of Major League exhibition games played in the Hill City. Part 1 covers the years 1895 through 1940. In 1895 the Hill City was in its third season of profes- sional baseball and fielded a team known as the Lynchburg Tobacconists in the Virginia State League. On April 11, 1940 It featured the reigning World Cham- pion New York Yankees of the Ameri- can League and the National League’s Brooklyn Dodgers. The April 1895 Lynchburg Tobacconists preseason schedule featured six games against five of the National League’s 12 teams: single games against the Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Beaneaters, Pittsburgh Pirates, the reigning National League Champion Baltimore Orioles, and two games against the Washington Senators. Those teams featured 13 future Hall of Fame (HoF) players, and Connie Mack, a future HoF Manager. The Tobacconists lost all six of those games, being outscored by a combined 105 to 28. the first baseball game was played at Lynchburg’s newly construct- ed City Stadium.

“The Hill City has hosted 50 Major League exhibition games”