April 12, 1919 – The Tennessee Supreme Court today renders a decision which permits Sunday baseball in the state. The Court holds that the blue laws of 1893 do not apply to baseball, as the game was not then being played
April 12, 1927 – On opening day of the Southern Association schedule in Nashville, Atlanta Crackers outfielder George “Mule” Haas slams the first regular-season home run hit at the new “turned around” Sulphur Dell. Haas’ blast comes in the second inning and Atlanta wins 10-2 before 7,535 Nashville fans
April 12, 1932 – Attendance for opening day is 14,502. Seating capacity is 8,000 in the grandstands, and the outfield is lined off with rope to accommodate the crowd. It is the largest crowd to see a game at Sulphur Dell
April 12, 1933 – Nashville beats Chattanooga 22-4 on only 13 Vols hits but is aided by 15 walks given up by Lookouts pitchers
April 12, 1940 – With the weather a chilly 39 degrees, the Nashville Vols take a 6-0 lead and coast to a 12-8 opening day victory over the Atlanta Crackers before a crowd of 8,206 fans
April 13, 1885 – Nashville beats host Montgomery in a pre-season exhibition game 10-7
April 13, 1904 – Cincinnati loses to Nashville 11-0 in an exhibition game
April 13, 1915 – On opening day at Sulphur Dell, Nashville defeats Chattanooga by a score of 8-5 before a large crowd including Tennessee Governor Tom C. Rye and Nashville Mayor Hilary Howse
April 13, 1917 – Birmingham wallops Nashville 9-1 on opening day at Sulphur Dell. Vols pitcher Pug Cavet is burned for 16 hits, seven for doubles, as the Barons have 23 total bases. The game follows a parade that stretched three city blocks. Game-time temperature is 55 degrees; 2,851 fans attend the game, the lowest opening day attendance of all teams in the Southern Association
April 13, 1941 – After beating Chattanooga 7-2 in the first game of an Easter Sunday doubleheader at Engel Stadium, Vols outfielder Dick Culler bats three times in the seventh inning of the second game as Nashville scores 15 runs to win by a score of 25-1
April 14, 1914 – Larry Gilbert, who will spend 38 years as a player, manager, general manager, and team owner for the New Orleans Pelicans and Nashville Vols in the Southern Association, makes his major league debut as starting centerfielder for the Boston Braves
April 14, 1935 -The Southern Association votes to abolish intentional walk rule, adopted during the winter
April 14, 1948 – The Nashville Vols play the Detroit Tigers in an exhibition game at Sulphur Dell. Jim Burns allows five hits and no runs
April 14, 1950 – In the bottom of the tenth inning with two outs and two strikes against him, Nashville outfielder Paul Mauldin slaps a walk-off three-run homer off Bobo Newsom to beat Chattanooga 6-4 in the season opener at Sulphur Dell. Few of the 5,363 attending fans stay until the end of the game due to the cold weather
April 15, 1885 – Nashville’s wins its first professional game by a score of 11-9 at Columbus
April 15, 1936 – Player-manager Lance Richbourg scores seven runs in a game against Knoxville
April 15, 1949 – In a game in Chattanooga on Opening Day, Carl Sawatski hits a home run that travels at least 520 feet and bounces among the railroad tracks outside Engel Stadium. It is considered to be the longest homer ever hit by a Vols player
April 15, 1959 – After a five-year absence from baseball, former Vols player Tookie Gilbert blasts two home runs as New Orleans defeats Nashville 8-1 in the Pelicans home opener
April 16, 1960 – In Nashville, the Vols beat Memphis 12-5 before 5,399 fans. Cliff Cook launches two home runs as pitcher Tom Gibson and shortstop Bob Henrich also homer in the rout
April 16, 1948 – Harold (Buster) Boguskie collects six hits on Opening Day, just missing his seventh on a close play at first base. A crowd of 9,222 is in attendance, the largest since the 1932 home opener drew 14,502, as Nashville raps 14 hits in the losing effort.
Chattanooga manager George Myatt, in his debut as field general, goes four for six in the Lookouts 15-14 win and calls for his pitcher to intentionally walk pinch hitter Joe Damato to get Boguskie to the plate for his seventh plate appearance
April 15, 1959 – After a five-year absence from baseball, former Vols player Tookie Gilbert blasts two home runs as New Orleans defeats Nashville 8-1 in the Pelicans home opener
April 15, 1949 – In Chattanooga on Opening Day, Carl Sawatski hits a home run that travels at least 520 feet and bounces among the railroad tracks outside Engel Stadium. It is considered to be the longest homer ever hit by a Vols player
April 15, 1936 – Nashville Vols player-manager Lance Richbourg scores seven runs in a game against Knoxville
April 14, 1950 – In the season opener at Sulphur Dell, Nashville outfielder Paul Mauldin slaps a walk-off three-run homer off of Bobo Newsom to beat Chattanooga 6-4 in the bottom of the tenth inning with two outs and two strikes against him
April 14, 1914 – Larry Gilbert makes his major league debut as starting centerfielder for the Boston Braves. Gilbert would spend 38 years as a player, manager, general manager, and team owner for the New Orleans Pelicans and Nashville Vols in the Southern Association
April 13, 1941 – In the second game of a doubleheader in Chattanooga, Nashville beats the Lookouts 25-1. Vols outfielder Marvin Felderman bats three times in a 15-run inning that is one run short of tying a league record set by Little Rock against Nashville in 1920
April 13, 1917 – In the opening game of the season at Sulphur Dell, Birmingham wallops Nashville 9-1. Pug Cavet was burned for 16 hits, seven for doubles, as the Barons had 23 total bases for the game. Cavet would finish the season 21-13 for the Vols
April 13, 1915 – On opening day at Sulphur Dell, Nashville wins by a score of 8-5 over Chattanooga before a large crowd
April 13, 1904 – The Cincinnati team loses to Nashville 11-0 in an exhibition game
April 12, 1940 -With the weather around 39 degrees, the Nashville Vols take a 6-0 lead and coast to a 12-8 opening day victory over the Atlanta Crackers before a Sulphur Dell crowd of 8,206 chilly fans.
Nashville would remain in first place the entire season and capture the pennant, Southern Association playoffs, and Dixie Series championship
April 12, 1919 – The Tennessee Supreme Court today renders a decision which permits Sunday baseball in the state. The Court holds that the blue laws of 1893 do not apply to baseball, as the game was not then being played
April 11, 1919 – Hank Schenz is born. He played in 99 games for Nashville during the 1947 season. As a member of the New York Giants in 1951, it was Schenz who supplied the telescope used by Giants coach Herman Franks to steal opposing catchers signals from the centerfield clubhouse office of manager Leo Durocher.
The 1951 Giants won the pennant on Bobby Thomson’s home run which became known as the infamous “shot heard ’round the world”
April 11, 1904 – Nashville wins an exhibition game 13-11 against Buffalo. Bisons manager George Stallings had been manager of Nashville in 1894 and 1895 and would later manage in the majors, winning a World Series title with the 1914 Boston Braves. Future Nashville manager Larry Gilbert would be on that Braves championship team
