Baseball is considered “America’s Pastime.” There’s something about taking the kids to the ballpark, eating a hot dog, teaching them the game, and passing along knowledge to another generation. Some may have to travel hours to get this type of experience. For kids who grew up in the Germantown neighborhood in Nashville in the ‘40s and ‘50s, it was just down the road at Sulphur Dell.
The origins of the ballpark date back to 1870, when it was called Athletic Park.
“It was Nashville’s baseball home,” said baseball historian Skip Nipper. “Getting its name Sulphur Dell goes back to Grantland Rice, the ‘dean of American sports writers,’ who wrote for The Tennessean in Nashville. And the way that he liked to write, he couldn’t rhyme “Sulphur Springs Bottom,” which was the area that Athletic Park sat in. So he came up with the idea of Sulphur Springs Dell. The fans, I think, changed it to Sulphur Dell. They liked the way that it sounded.”
Sulphur Dell was the home of numerous recreational and pro baseball teams. The Nashville Vols, a minor league team, played there from 1901 to 1963.
It was also home to numerous teams from the Southern Negro Leagues.
“It was the home for baseball teams in the 19th century, not just in the 20th century,” said Nipper. “As we moved into the 20th century, the African American teams formed and played games here. It was easy to get to, and the community supported it, whether they were white or Black. They all wanted to play here.”
Charles Strobel used to walk a few blocks from his 7th Avenue North home to catch games as a youngster.
“You heard all these sounds and I said, ‘mama, what is this?’ And she said, ‘it’s down there every night.’ I said, ‘can I go?’ And she said, ‘well, if you go with somebody.’ I knew I could do that and get a bunch of kids in the neighborhood. And that was really the first time that I began to follow baseball,” said Strobel.
Some of baseball’s most famous names played at Sulphur Dell, including Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Cy Young, Hank Aaron, and Jackie Robinson.
Aaron started his professional baseball career in Nashville when he played a short time in 1952 for the Indianapolis Clowns, a team in the Southern Negro Leagues.
Robinson played at Sulphur Dell as a member of the Kansas City Monarchs in 1945. He came back later as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers for exhibition games.
The Vols folded in 1963 and the ballpark was torn down in 1969.
“It was very disappointing, and I regretted having to even drive by the place, realizing that it was time to grow up,” said Strobel.
He did grow up, helping thousands in the process. Father Strobel was ordained a priest in the Catholic Church in 1970. After spending time serving in Knoxville, he returned home to Nashville. He founded Loaves and Fishes Community Meals for the Hungry over 35 years ago. The soup kitchen serves over 31,000 meals a year.
Father Strobel is also the Founding Director of Room In The Inn, which provides housing and resources to hundreds of people each year who experience homelessness.
“As time went on and I became older, I began to realize that I didn’t lose what was inside me,” said Strobel. “Baseball has this powerful force to draw you into a community, and a community that is, in every sense of this term, a realization of what the kingdom of God is.”
Father Strobel is encouraged by the prospects of the Nashville Stars becoming a Major League Baseball franchise, bringing back a team that played just blocks from where he grew up.
“What I’m hoping for Nashville is that the same kinds of dreams and hopes and growth that I experienced as a boy can also be something that Nashville experiences in the entire region and the entire community,” said Strobel.
After a lifetime of serving the community, he offers this prayer…remembering his baseball roots.
Oh God, the divine umpire in the sky. Forgive the errors of our way, and help us to arrive safely home. Amen.