Professional Baseball at Camp Pike
Professional Baseball at Camp Pike, located in North Little Rock, AR, was played during World War I.Players
Many professional baseball players were stationed at Camp Pike during the war. The following is a partial list of players stationed there at one point:
Player | MLB | MILB | Negro | |||||||
Oscar Charlston | 1915-1945 | |||||||||
Bert Ellison | 1916-1920 | |||||||||
Bill Fincher | 1916 | |||||||||
Jim Galloway | 1912 | |||||||||
Claire Goodwin | 1914-1915 | |||||||||
Ziggy Hasbrook | 1916-1917 | |||||||||
Harold Janvrin | 1911-1922 | |||||||||
Benny Karr | 1920-1927 | |||||||||
Willie Mitchell | 1909-1919 | |||||||||
Guy Morton | 1914-1924 | |||||||||
Muddy Ruel | 1915-1934 | |||||||||
Ray Schmandt | 1915-1922 | |||||||||
Joe Slattery | 1908-1920 | |||||||||
Earl Smith | 1919-1930 | |||||||||
Aaron Ward | 1917-1928 |
On April 6th, 1918, the Arkansas Gazette published a list of some of the professional baseball players at Camp Pike. Below are those listed that have not identified:
Name | Pos. | Note | ||||||||
Pointer | P | ". . . formerly of [the] New York State League" | ||||||||
Karle | P | ". . . formerly of [the] [K]ansas City Federals" | ||||||||
Nichols | C | ". . . formerly of [the] Three-I League" | ||||||||
Gillis | C | ". . . formerly of [the] Western League" | ||||||||
Schram | 1B | ". . . formerly of [the] Pacific Coast League" | ||||||||
Thompson | 2B | ". . . formerly of [the] Virginia League" | ||||||||
Propst | 3B | ". . . formerly of [the] Southern League" | ||||||||
Lipski | SS | ". . . formerly of [the] California Trolley League" | ||||||||
Chapell | OF | ". . . formerly of [the] Central Association" | ||||||||
Rex Hershey | OF | ". . . formerly of [the] Central League" | ||||||||
Young | OF | ". . . formerly of [the] International League. |
MLB Exhibitions
Five MLB exhibitions were played at Camp Pike in 1918. Between these five games, eight different Hall of Famers appeared at Camp Pike, including Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb.
March 23rd, 1918
Boston Red Sox vs. Brooklyn Robins
Camp Pike Park, North Little Rock, AR
Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R |
Boston | ||||||||||
Brooklyn |
Attendance: 6,000
Note: Game was rained out; Babe Ruth hit five homeruns in batting practice.
March 24th, 1918
Boston Red Sox vs. Brooklyn Robins
Camp Pike Park, North Little Rock, AR
Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R |
Boston | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 18 |
Brooklyn | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 8 |
Note: Hall of Famer Burleigh Grimes participated in this game.
March 27th, 1918
Boston Red Sox vs. Brooklyn Robins
Camp Pike Park, North Little Rock, AR
Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R |
Boston | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Brooklyn | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | x | 3 |
Note: Hall of Famers Harry Hooper, Johnny Evers, Babe Ruth, and Burleigh Grimes participated in this game.
March 30th, 1918
Boston Red Sox vs. Brooklyn Robins
Camp Pike Park, North Little Rock, AR
Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R |
Brooklyn | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Boston | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
Note: Hall of Famers Rube Marquard, Johnny Evers, Babe Ruth and Harry Hooper participated in this game.
March 31th, 1918
Boston Red Sox vs. Brooklyn Robins
Camp Pike Park, North Little Rock, AR
Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R |
Boston | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 |
Brooklyn | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
Note: Hall of Famers Johnny Evers, Babe Ruth and Burleigh Grimes participated in this game.
April 10th, 1918
Detroit Tigers vs. Cincinnati Reds
Camp Pike Park, North Little Rock, AR
Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R |
Cincinnati | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
Detroit | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
Attendance: 2,000
Notes: Hall of Famers Edd Roush, Harry Heilmann and Ty Cobb Participated in this game.
Other Exhibitions
April 6th, 1918
Little Rock Travelers vs. Camp Pike
Camp Pike Park, North Little Rock, AR
Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R |
Camp Pike | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Little Rock | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | x | 6 |
April 14th, 1918
Little Rock Travelers vs. Camp Pike
Camp Pike Park, North Little Rock, AR
Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R |
Camp Pike | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Little Rock | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 9 | x | 12 |
April 13th, 1919
Little Rock Travelers vs. Camp Pike
Camp Pike Park, North Little Rock, AR
Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R |
Camp Pike | 3 | |||||||||
Little Rock | 12 |
Military Games
September 21st, 1918
Camp Pike vs. Camp Funston
Camp Pike Park, North Little Rock, AR
Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R |
Camp Pike | 4 | |||||||||
Camp Funston | 2 |
September 22nd, 1918
Camp Pike vs. Camp Funston
Camp Pike Park, North Little Rock, AR
Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R |
Camp Pike | ||||||||||
Camp Funston |
Note: Winner was Camp Pike.
Southern League Games
From 1918-1919, the Little Rock Travelers played numerous league games at Camp Pike because Sunday baseball was allowed there. Games were played at "Belmont Field Park" (1).
Two days after Little Rock played New Orleans at Camp Pike in July, 1919, the War Department issued an order that Sunday games should be stopped. Nevertheless, Little Rock was allowed to play one final at Camp Pike on the 28th against Atlanta. Future Sunday games were either played in Memphis or played on Saturday as a double-header.
Date | Opponent | Result | Attendance | |||||||
4/24/1918(2) | Nashville Volunteers | W, 6-5 | ||||||||
4/28/1918 | Chattanooga Lookouts | L, 5-9 | 3,000 | |||||||
5/26/1918 | Mobile Bear | L, 1-3 | ||||||||
6/9/1918 | Memphis Chickasaws | W, 10-1 | ||||||||
6/9/1918 | Memphis Chickasaws | L, 0-6 | ||||||||
5/4/1919 | Chattanooga Lookouts | W, 4-2 | ||||||||
6/1/1919 | Mobile Bears | W, 4-1 | ||||||||
6/8/1919 | Birmingham Barons | W, 8-7 | ||||||||
7/20/1919 | New Orleans Pelicans | W, 4-3 | ||||||||
7/28/1919 | Atlanta Crackers | L, 1-15 |
Sources
1) Kansas City Star, 11/22/1918
2) Atlanta Constitution, 4/25/1918