Nashville Centennials
Financial problems brought on by poor weather, low attendance, and a lack of local monetary support necessitated the team's transfer to Henderson, Kentucky, after June 3.
[10] Meanwhile, George Stallings and W. L. "Billy" Work were drawing up plans for the Central League, which was conceptualized in spring 1895 when Southern baseball figures were deciding how to organize for that season.
[11] The pair thought that either this arrangement or a state league consisting of all or mostly teams in Tennessee would be the best fit for a Nashville club.
[9][15] With teams from several states eagerly seeking to join the proposed Central League,[16] representatives met to organize in Evansville on January 20, 1897.
Charlie Petty, a Nashville native, played for the Cincinnati Red Stockings (1889), New York Giants (1893), Washington Senators (1894), and Cleveland Spiders (1894).
[29][30] Manager Work originally planned to have his players report to Nashville around March 27 so as to have plenty of time to prepare for the April 28 season opener.
[33] Athletic Park, where the team was to play, was located in a low-lying area in close proximity to the Cumberland River and prone to regular flooding in the spring.
[35] Having to push back their report date, Work wrote to his players asking them to practice at home until Athletic Park was ready.
[39] The postponed start to their spring practice put them some two weeks behind the rest of the league, whose teams were already at work on the diamond.
[39] By April 24, half of the roster had yet to report even though they had been sent train tickets and telegraphed in response their intentions to arrive by earlier dates.
[41] Despite the lack of virtually any practice, the Centennial lads were scheduled to open the 1897 season on April 28 against the Evansville Brewers at Athletic Park.
[32] Nashville's Opening Day roster consisted of pitchers Theodore Conover, Jack McCoy, Charlie Petty, and Willis; catcher Frank Belt; first baseman Pat Dillard; second basemen Charley Watkins and Patrick Lynch; third baseman Fred Blakely; shortstop Percy Griffin; left/right fielders Fred Brott and George Cleve; and center fielder Phil Veatch.
[32] The Opening Day game was a pitchers' duel between Nashville's Willis and Evansville's King Bailey witnessed by about 500 people in attendance.
[47] Costly repairs to fix flood damage at Athletic Park and the cancellation of their preseason exhibition games were the first financial strains on the club.
[48][49] With less money coming in and the normal expenditures of running a ball club, the team was "a few hundred dollars" in debt.
[47] Simons went on to ask the editor to share the letter with local baseball supporters in hopes that they would put together an organization to back the team.
[49][59] President Simons arrived in Nashville on June 1 to assist Work with organizing a stock company to support the team.
[63] In the end, it was supposed that the many other attractions offered by their namesake Centennial City in conjunction with the year's celebration drew too much attention away from what had become a promising team.
Decatur, the intended spot, refused to accept the team and its over $400 debt in unpaid player salaries and forthwith demolished their ballpark.
[78] The total seating capacity was around 1,000, consisting of about 500 opera chairs, some in private boxes near the front, and bleachers along Fourth Avenue.
[80] Work was desirous of building a new ballpark for the team, but eventually settled on making repairs to Athletic Park, the less costly choice.
[83] Since 2015, the site has been the location of First Horizon Park, the home ballpark of the Triple-A Nashville Sounds baseball team.
With no contemporary references to the team as the "Centennials," and clubs of this period regularly displaying their city's name on their jerseys, the lettering may have spelled "NASHVILLE."
