The Hot Springs Arlingtons were a professional

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

baseball team based in

Hot Springs, Arkansas Hot Springs is a resort city in the state of Arkansas and the county seat of Garland County. The city is located in the Ouachita Mountains among the U.S. Interior Highlands, and is set among several natural hot springs for which the city is n ...

from 1896 to 1904. The Hot Springs Arlingtons played as members of the Southern Negro League and hosted home games at Whittington Park. The team was known as the Hot Springs Blues in 1904.

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

member

Rube Foster Andrew "Rube" Foster (September 17, 1879 – December 9, 1930) was an American baseball player, manager, and executive in the Negro leagues. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981. Foster, considered by historians to have been per ...

played for the 1901 Hot Springs Arlingtons.

History

The Hot Springs Arlingtons began play in 1896 as a professional Negro team. The Arlingtons played at Whittington Park and drew white and black fans to their games. Their main competition was the Little Rock Quapaws."Notes on the Game", David Wyatt, Freeman (Indianapolis), 2/5/1910 The Hot Springs Arlingtons were so named due to being sponsored by Alfred Holden, who was the headwaiter of the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs. In 1897, the Hot Springs Arlingtons began play in a formation of a southern Negro league, which featured Hot Springs, the Little Rock Quapaws, Memphis Cliffords, Pensacola Acmes, Birmingham Unions and a

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

team as league members. The Little Rock Quapaws were reported to have traveled to games in Hot Springs in a wagon. The 1897 Hot Springs Arlingtons played integrated exhibition games against the Little Rock Senators and the

Hot Springs Bathers The Hot Springs Bathers were a Cotton States League baseball team based in Hot Springs, Arkansas, United States, that played from 1938 to 1941 and from 1947 to 1955. In 1938, they were affiliated with the Chicago Cubs. In 1939 and 1940, they were a ...

teams, both members of the

Arkansas State League The Arkansas State League was an American minor league baseball league that played in various seasons between 1894 and 1935, forming three different times. The first version was in operation in 1894, followed by an 1897 league. The Class D level ...

. The Arlingtons continued play though 1903. The last documented games played by the Arlingtons were in May, 1903. In June, 1903 a streetcar boycott occurred when legislation requiring black Arkansans to sit in the back of public streetcars was implemented. As Whittington Park was located at the end of Hot Springs' streetcar line and Whittington Park was owned and operated by the Hot Springs streetcar company, the Arlingtons ceased play. In 1904, the team became known as the Hot Springs Blues. The Blues played ten documented games in 1904.

The ballpark

The Hot Springs Arlingtons were noted to have played home games at Whittington Park. Whittington Park hosted numerous

major league baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

teams for spring training, including the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

Cleveland Spiders The Cleveland Spiders were an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The team competed at the major league level from 1887 to 1899, first for two seasons as a member of the now-defunct American Association (AA), followed ...

Brooklyn Superbas The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Californi ...

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

New York Highlanders The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

and

Chicago Colts The following is a North American professional sports league organization, franchise history of the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball, a charter member of the National League who started play in the National Association of Base Ball Players, ...

. Today, as part of the "Hot Springs Baseball Trail" there are historical markers at the site of Whittington Park, as well as the Arlington Hotel. The Whittington Park home plate location is marked, with the current location being in the parking lot of the Weyerhaeuser offices. The address is 810 Whittington Avenue, Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas. The namesake Arlington Hotel is still in use today and is located at 239 Central Avenue, Hot Springs, Arkansas. Arlington Resort and Bathhouse P6200130

Notable alumni

Source
Arkansas Baseball History
h2>

alumni

(1901) Inducted, 1981

Notable alumni

* Eugene Milliner (1900-1901) *

Dave Wyatt David Wyatt was born about June 19, 1871 in Nelsonville, Ohio and was a Negro leagues infielder and manager for several years before the founding of the first Negro National League. He attended Indiana State University. His earliest records sho ...

(1897)

References

{{Reflist, 2

External links

Arkansas Baseball History
Negro league baseball teams Hot Springs, Arkansas Baseball teams disestablished in 1903 Baseball teams established in 1896 Defunct baseball teams in Arkansas Professional baseball teams in Arkansas African-American history of Arkansas

History

The ballpark

Notable alumni

Notable alumni

See also

References

External links