Adam SparksKnoxville News Sentinel
More than a century ago, the University of Tennessee had baseball but no record book.
Instead, the Vols’ greatest feats were shared by word of mouth, yearbooks and newspapers from 1897 to 1919.
There were historic home runs, fights among fans, catchy nicknames, a teamwide protest over a player’s suspension and even a no-hitter foretold by the News Sentinel one day before it happened.
Here are 10 of the UT baseball stories you’ve never heard because a record book didn’t exist.
First Vols baseball game was ‘Ladies Day’
UT’s athletic association began keeping official records in 1920 with the formation of the Southern Conference. But the school still recognizes official games and players from 1897-1919, relying on scant information from yearbook photos and mostly newspaper accounts.
The first official game was on April 17, 1897. UT won 15-4 over Grant University (now Tennessee Wesleyan).
Pitcher W.W. Sanders struck out 11 batters. At the plate, he led the team with two hits along with three runs scored. And leadoff hitter Doak Aydelott scored four runs while serving as player-coach.
A large crowd attended the game. But most fans arrived early to watch the minor league team from Knoxville practice before leaving on a road trip to Atlanta. Then the fans stayed to watch the undercard college game.
The first UT game was also “Ladies Day,” as women were granted free admission to boost interest. But they didn’t show up, or at least not enough to impress reporters.
“Yesterday was ladies day, but very few fair ones were present,” the Journal and Tribune reported.
21 strikeouts by ‘phenom’ pitcher
On May 5, 1897, UT had perhaps its first star performance in program history. Pitcher Will Newman struck out 21 batters in an 18-2 win over Grant University.
The UT record book lists Newman as a four-year letterman from 1897-1900, based on yearbooks. But individual records weren’t kept.
Jim O’Brien owns UT’s official record by striking out 20 batters against Maryville in 1972.
The only account of Newman’s dominant performance came in newspapers, which referred to him as “Phenom” Newman for the rest of that 1897 season.
Vols started 1900s with a home run
UT’s first swing of the bat in the 1900s was a home run.
On April 5, 1900, Ralph “Reddy” Rogers smacked a leadoff home run in the top of the first inning in the season opener against Vanderbilt. It was described in a way that would raise eyebrows today.
“Young Rogers hit it as hard as his father did the cigarette, and the bright shiny ball sailed over the left field fence,” the Journal reported. “There was a perfect deluge of ‘rahs!’ ”
The game was played in front of 400 fans at Baldwin Park in Knoxville. But UT got the first at-bat because umpire Frank Moffett, a local baseball celebrity who later coached the Vols, decided that Vanderbilt would start the game in the field.
Alabama fan bludgeoned while Tennessee hit homers
Alabama had already won the first two games of its series at UT when the third game was played on April 18, 1903.
The Vols wanted to win the finale. But the Crimson Tide players weren’t motivated to sweep the series, so their last game was riddled with sloppy play and horse play.
UT won 19-13 as J.W. Barnett hit two triples, two home runs and drove in eight runs. But Knoxville reporters complained that Alabama players misbehaved in ways that sullied the sport.
“Such a disgusting exhibition of infant imbecility had never before been seen at Baldwin Park and the baseball lovers of the city who witnessed the alleged game hope that nothing of the sort will ever strike the town again,” the News Sentinel reported. “It was a case of horse play on the part of the Alabama boys from beginning to end, and one which will not soon be forgotten.”
Specific antics weren’t described. But the worst behavior was in the stands.
An Alabama fan was “struck over the head with a board three or four times by the enraged Knoxville man, whom, it was stated, the Alabama man had called a liar," the News Sentinel reported.
Jokes were made in newspapers that the violent fan altercation increased the already high number of hits in the game.
Tennessee pitcher snapped losing streak on his own
The 1905 UT team had solid pitching. But it was criticized for blowing games with comical mistakes, which led to a 0-4 record to start the season.
The worst was a 7-6 loss to Vanderbilt in 12 innings. With a runner on third base in the bottom of the 12th, the Commodores hit a ground ball to the UT second baseman.
He casually threw to first base for the force out, apparently thinking it would end the inning. But he had lost track of the number of outs, so Vanderbilt scored the winning run uncontested.
That was the backdrop on May 6, 1905, when UT pitcher S.Y. Parker decided to win the game on his own when the Vols went into extra innings against Bingham Military School.
Parker pitched 10 scoreless innings. Then in the top of the 11th, he hit a triple and scored the go-ahead run. The Vols added a second run for a 2-0 lead. Bingham managed only one run in the bottom of the 11th, finally giving UT its first win of the season.
Parker pitched a two-hitter with 12 strikeouts and got the biggest hit of the game. It was a dazzling performance in an otherwise disappointing season.
UT player pitched three games in two days
UT’s first great baseball season was 1908, when it posted a 16-3 record in Moffett’s second stint as coach. There was no postseason, but the Vols finished the season on an eight-game winning streak.
It all started with a marathon performance by Solon Kipp, who pitched three games in two days for UT’s first series win over Vanderbilt in program history.
On April 24, 1908, the Vols lost the series opener, 5-3, with Kipp on the mound. The next day Kipp begged Moffett to let him pitch both games of a doubleheader, and the coach finally agreed.
A capacity crowd of 800 watched Kipp carve up the Commodores. In back-to-back wins, he allowed four runs on 13 hits and struck out 12 batters in 16 innings.
Kipp pitched all 24 innings over three games in two days, including a shortened third game.
“Kipp’s feat of pitching three games in two days and winning two of them may be a college record,” the Journal speculated. “If any college pitcher has (done it), … it has long been forgotten.”
Vols turned opponent into a running joke
By 1909, UT baseball had pulled ahead of programs at nearby colleges. To open that season, the Vols outscored Tusculum 59-12 in a three-game series rout.
UT catcher W.L. McAllister scored the same number of runs (12) as Tusculum’s team over the weekend.
It was fodder for jokes at the expense of the opposing players.
The News Sentinel congratulated Tusculum for improving on its first game, a 25-1 loss, by merely losing 22-1 in the second game.
The Journal reported that Tusculum should have a good track team judging from how it chased hits in the outfield. It also speculated that the series was an April Fool’s joke.
And, finally, the Journal asked its readers for help in calculating the tally of the series: “Wanted – an adding machine.”
News Sentinel foretold a Tennessee no-hitter
On May 5, 1914, the News Sentinel previewed UT’s road series against Sewanee, which would begin the next day.
The coverage featured a breakdown of a UT ace pitcher it nicknamed “Twirler” Hutcheson, but a first name was not given. Hutcheson had just struck out 17 batters to beat Kentucky, and he would face Sewanee on just three days rest.
The article included a prophetic remark.
“One thing remains for pitcher Hutcheson to accomplish before he enters the ‘hall of fame’ at the ‘hill,’ ” the News Sentinel reported. “He must get busy and pitch a no-hit game to go alongside with that affair wherein he whiffed seventeen batters.”
The next afternoon Hutcheson tossed a no-hitter in an 18-1 win over Sewanee. The News Sentinel gloated by reprinting that foreshadowing line from its preview story.
1919 Vols protested teammate’s suspension
During World War I, UT established a Students’ Army Training Corps, which prepared students to become military officers. And that military presence was still on campus in spring 1919, shortly after the war ended.
On May 21, 1919, the university commandant attempted a brief military exercise on Wait Field just UT’s baseball game against Kentucky State began. Reports weren’t clear whether it was a defiant act or merely a scheduling mix-up for use of the field.
Either way, UT star shortstop Frank Callaway got into a heated argument with the commandant, and the player was suspended.
Four days later, UT players turned in their uniforms as a protest and then reported laughable reasons for potentially not finishing the season.
The Journal reported 13 players were sidelined by insomnia, a boil on the right arm, over-studying, acute indigestion and “tobacco heart,” along with a few legitimate injuries. Callaway was listed as out due to “acute suspension.”
Frank Callaway still made it to Major Leagues
Everything turned out OK for Callaway despite never playing for the Vols again. But there was still drama.
UT returned to the field for one more game in the 1919 season, a road trip to Maryville to play in front of a record crowd of 2,500.
According to reports, UT faculty told the players that Callaway would be allowed to play, but that decision was reversed shortly before the first pitch. His teammates initially refused to take the field, but they changed their mind after a team meeting and delayed start.
UT beat Maryville 9-4 while Callaway remained in the dugout.
But immediately after the game, he was offered a minor league contract by Sammy Strang Nicklin, the new owner of the Chattanooga Lookouts. Nicklin, a former UT player and World Series champion with the New York Giants, had come to the game to make the in-person pitch.
Callaway politely declined. But Giants manager John McGraw, who had dispatched scouts to Knoxville during the 1919 season, tried to lure him to pro baseball.
Callaway eventually signed with iconic manager Connie Mack and the Philadelphia Athletics, who had targeted him since he graduated from Central High School. Callaway played two seasons with the A’s.
Callaway remains an important figure in UT baseball history despite playing his entire Vols career before individual records were kept.
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
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