Gameday Magazine

with the Boston Doves and Highlanders were won by the visitors 6-0 and 8-1 re- spectively. The following year the same two teams returned for exhibition games and the scores of the visitors’ victories were similar: Doves 12-3 and Highland- ers 9-3. In 1909 once again the Doves and Highlanders stopped in Lynchburg for single games with the Shoemakers. And once again the Hill City team lost both games, falling to the “New York- ers” 9-3 and the “Bostonians” 12-3. The 1909 Highlanders lineup featured HoF outfielder “Wee Willie” Keeler. It was Keeler’s fifth appearance in the Hill City, the

ton “Rustlers” was rained out, as well as a single game with Connie Mack’s Phila- delphia Athletics. They lost the second game scheduled with the Rustlers 2-0. The Shoemakers were shut out in the two games with the Phillies 9-0 and 12-0 and lost a game to the Dodgers 8-1. The Sports Corporation, described as “coming out of the Chamber of Com- merce”, arranged the next exhibition

game for local fans in 1919. It featured the Detroit Tigers and the Boston Braves. Managed

most by any Hall of Fame player. Kee- ler first appeared with the Orioles in 1895 and 1896 and also previously with the Highland- ers in 1907 and 1908. Keeler’s .345 lifetime bat- ting average ranks him 5th on the all-time list.

by Hughie Jennings who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1945, the Tigers star attraction was perhaps the greatest baseball player ever to play the game, Tyus Raymond “Ty” Cobb. Cobb’s lifetime .367 batting average ranks him 1st on the all-time list. The Tigers also featured future HoF first baseman Harry Heilmann whose .342 lifetime batting av- erage ranks 12th on the all-time list. The Tigers defeated the Braves 3-2 in a game which drew an estimated 2,500 fans. In the Spring of 1920, The Sports Corpo- ration arranged a follow-up contest be- tween the New York Yankees and the

The Shoemakers’ 1910 three game preseason schedule once again included the American League’s Highlanders. But it also included two games with manager John McGraw’s National League New York Giants. The Shoemakers lost to the Giants 6-1 and 2-0, but played the Highlanders to a 3-3 tie, a game that was called after 12 innings. The Shoemakers were scheduled to play six exhibition games in 1911, but one of two games with the newly renamed Bos-

Brooklyn Dodgers. According to The Lynchburg “News”, admission to the game was $1.00 for adults and $.50 for children, and the bleacher seats were “free”. The Yankees featured center fielder George Her- man “Babe” Ruth. Perhaps better known for hitting

714 home runs, Ruth’s .342 lifetime bat- ting average ranks 10th on the all-time

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