Skip Nipper’s Nashville Baseball Podcast

Jim O’Toole was a Cincinnati Reds” Bonus Baby” and sent to Nashville for 1958 for his first pro season. The Vols did not have a particularly good year, but the left-hander did. At season's end, he led the AA Southern Association in wins with 20, complete games with 21, 280 innings pitched, and 189 strikeouts. He became a dependable starter in the majors for Cincinnati, and his story is a comm...

I met Bill Greason in October of 2017, when the Friends of Rickwood hosted the inaugural Southern Negro League conference in BIrmingham. He spoke to us in the Rickwood conference room and told his story, then took questions from everyone until it was time for him to return to his home in Birmingham. Before he got up to leave, I asked him if I could have our picture taken together, and he obliged....

In this episode, I discuss quirky plays, oddities, and noteworthy happenings at Sulphur Dell. Some are historic, while others are just plain funny. Listen to more great history from Nashville’s quirky yet famous ballpark! Want to stay in touch? Find me here: X: mrsulphurdell Instagram: @ nashville_baseball Facebook: Skip Nipper Email me: 262downright@gmail.com All Skip’s Corner episodes ©2022-2025...

A few days ago I got a chance to catch up with an old friend in North Carolina. His name is Rooster Narron. I Have known him a long time, but in the not too distant past we took in a few Nashville Sounds games together at Herschel Greer Stadium. Those visits turned into a writing opportunity for me as I learned Rooster’s dad and an important part he played in the history of baseball. I hope you wi...

Baseball, as we know it, had its foundations in the 1800s, probably around 1835, a few years before the Mills Commission declared that Abner Doubleday drew out the playing field and wrote a few rules in 1939. How did softball start and how did it become so popular? In Nashville, softball leagues once rivaled the number of area baseball leagues, and once there a game was played that drew attention...

Fred Russell, Nashville Banner sportswriter, began a project in 1943 to select a Nashville Vols Hall of Fame. He did not complete the list, but he named a lineup of players through that season and later in 1950. Listen to this episode as I tell about Russell’s choices, then consider helping me complete the Hall of Fame for players through 1962 - I hope you will! Want to stay in touch? Find me here...

Sam Smith, president of the South Atlantic League, was at the 1962 Old Timers banquet. Why, might you ask? Because the Southern Association had folded only five days before, and he was wooing Nashville to come to the SALLY League for 1962. Birmingham decided to pull its club over the use of Negroes, and the Detroit Tigers, the Barons major league affiliate, had little choice but to associate with...

Today I umpired a game in Tennessee Vintage Baseball at Oaklands Mansion in Murfreesboro between the Stones River Scouts and Phoenix of East Nashville. These teams play the “gentleman’s game” (gentle ladies play these days, too) and it is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. The rules are different from what we may know, and in this episode I tell about the rules of 19th Century base...

Henry Kimbro was a stocky speedster who earned his living slap-hitting baseballs between third base and shortstop or into the outfield gaps. He served as the leadoff hitter for the Baltimore Elite Giants for 13 of his 18 seasons in the Negro Leagues as his 5’ 8”, 175- pound frame could generate quite a punch when he chose. On Saturday, August 10, the Nashville Sounds will honor Henry Kimbro in a s...

Chuck Dressen stuck by his players and taught them to win. He studied them, and he played situational baseball. In Nashville he won over 200 games in parts of four seasons and led the Vols to a fourth-, third-, and two second-place finishes.  He became a well-loved, no nonsense Nashville manager. In this episode you will hear about the career of Chuck Dressen. Want to stay in touch? Find me here:...

The first ceremonial opening day “first pitch” took place in National Park, later to be named Griffith Stadium, on April 14, 1910, by William Howard Taft, preceding the game between the Philadelphia Athletics and Washington Nationals. It began a tradition by presidents, dignitaries, entertainers, and other special guests before games in the major leagues. Many teams have started games throughout t...

Scrolling through online sources for baseball games (whether one word, “baseball,” or two “base ball,” every once in a while I come across something with added interest. I am going to take you back to October of 1868, Saturday, the 3rd, and then fast-forward to an article in the Sunday, July 10, 1927 edition of the Nashville Banner, entitled “C. S. Caldwell Relates Baseball Happenings of 59 years...

Before Dick Sisler was Nashville Vols manager, his claim to fame was secured several years before as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies. In a previous episode I told about his career and events during his Nashville tenure. But his feat on October 1, 1950, his home run that sealed the National League pennant, broke the spell of expectations for the son of a Hall of Famer, and I felt more needed...

Tom Wilson built a ballpark for his Nashville Elite Giants and opened it in time for the 1929 Negro Southern League season. It became an venue for not only baseball, but family gatherings, festivals, and all sorts of events for all people, Black or White. In this episode, I give background about Tom Wilson's life, including when he demolished his ballpark and built the Paradise Ballroom to hi...

I want to tell you about a great baseball player who came out of the ranks of the Nashville Interscholastic League and made his way to the major leagues for nine seasons and had about as much talent as anyone who came out of Nashville. That player was Bobby Tillman, a 6’4” right-hander, signed out of Middle Tennessee State College by Red Sox scout, George Digby in 1958. Tillman passed away on June...

Even though the Nashville franchise would exist until the demise of the Southern Association after the 1961 season, the handwriting was on the wall. The excitement of a new era of Nashville baseball possibly being ushered in for 1955 seemed fleeting, even with a new Vols/Reds affiliation. Were the opening-day rainouts the precursor to the last years of a storied franchise? Want to stay in touch? F...

Negro Leaguers statistics for past years have been elevated equal to that of Major League players. Not all years, but in particular, seven leagues for various seasons. No easy task for researchers and historians who have been working on this project, it now brings to light the on-the-field efforts of many Black baseball players, as the stats now change leaderboards in many categories. Two native N...

This week I wondered about the number of knuckleball pitchers with a Nashville connection. I have seen videos of thrown knuckleballs with little or no rotation, haven’t you? Besides kids in your neighborhood, or having a catch in Little League practice, how many of them were thrown by someone with a connection to Music City? In this episode, I tell about ballplayers who called knuckleballs their “...

Once the Civil War was over, local teams began to flourish in Nashville. These base ball clubs formed the foundation of future teams in the late 19th Century, including the non-professional Nashville Maroons. One of the claims for the earliest teams included a long-time battery, Robert "Lefty" Corbitt and Ed Mrzena, in 1891. I have the photograph that shows both men, along with teammates...

Today’s subject is the Chinese University of Hawai‘i and its baseball team – in 1914. I am sure you are wondering what this team has to do with Nashville, and I know you know I always talk about Nashville’s baseball connections. There is one. Vandy’s 1914 baseball schedule listed May 18 and 19 against the “Chinese Team of Hawaii.” Wait a minute. Did I read, that right, “Chinese Team of Hawaii? Thi...

In a rare occurrence, the pennant-deciding game between Nashville and New Orleans on the last day of the 1908 season was halted in the middle of the seventh inning for a ceremony to honor Nashville’s most popular player: Doc Wiseman. He was awarded a gold pocket watch for eight years playing with the local team. It was inscribed with the following: “Presented to Julius A. Wiseman for Efficient Ser...

Sulphur Dell was not just a baseball venue. Concerts by Tex Ritter, Jackie Wilson, and James Brown were held at what was Nashville's event center. Dick Clark’s Cavalcade of Stars, Esther Williams’ Water Follies, and the Shrine Circus drew large crowds, and barn-storming baseball exhibitions were held at the memorable ballpark before its demise. In the episode, I tell how the ballpark became N...

I wrote a story this past week about Jeff Peeples, one of the most dominating athletes ever from Nashville. If you would like to read it, you can find it at baseballinnashville.com. In writing that story it brought back memories I have of playing as a 15-year-old in the Nashville Babe Ruth League. Today, I can look back on that season as a special one. It was satisfying to have so many great teamm...

In what must be one of baseball’s most productive offensive games ever in Sulphur Dell, Chattanooga outlasted Nashville, 24-17, in the second game of a doubleheader on Wednesday, June 12, 1946. Nashville won the first game that day by a score of 4-3, but the nightcap was one for the record books. Listen as I tell about this and other  high-scoring games in the 1940’s, some of them for the Southern...

Have you ever wondered what ballplayers did during the off-season back in the day when salaries were not exorbitant like they are now? What did Nashville Vols do in the offseason? In this episode, hear how players would be spending their winter once the 1952 Southern Association season ended! Want to stay in touch? Find me here: X: mrsulphurdell Instagram: @ nashville_baseball Facebook: Skip Nippe...