The West Baden Sprudels were an early

Negro league baseball 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 ...

team that played as an independent club owned by the Burnett-Pollard-Rogers Baseball Club Company, where Edward Rogers was the Chief Officer.

Founding

The Sprudels appear to have been from Springs Valley, Indiana, but they often frequented

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

diamonds near the

West Baden Springs Hotel The West Baden Springs Hotel, formerly known as the West Baden Inn, is part of the French Lick Resort and is a national historic landmark hotel in West Baden Springs, Orange County, Indiana. It is known for the dome covering its atrium. Prior t ...

West Baden Springs, Indiana West Baden Springs is a town in French Lick Township, Orange County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 574 at the 2010 census. It is well known for its West Baden Springs Hotel and for being the birthplace of Larry Bird. History W ...

, and the

French Lick Springs Hotel The French Lick Springs Hotel, a part of the French Lick Resort complex, is a major resort hotel in Orange County, Indiana. The historic hotel in the national historic district at French Lick was initially known as a mineral spring health spa an ...

French Lick, Indiana French Lick is a town in French Lick Township, Orange County, Indiana. The population was 1,807 at the time of the 2010 census. In November 2006, the French Lick Resort Casino, the state's tenth casino in the modern legalized era, opened, drawing ...

. Games started between the teams between 1907 and 1908.The Indianapolis ABCs: History of a Premier Team in the Negro Leagues by Paul Debono The team was managed by

C. I. Taylor Charles Isham Taylor (January 20, 1875 – February 23, 1922) was an Americans, American second baseman, manager (baseball), manager and executive in Negro league baseball. Born in Anderson, South Carolina, he was the oldest among four sons of a M ...

"LEADING BASEBALL CLUBS" Indianapolis Freeman, Indianapolis, IN, April 1, 1911, Page 7, Column 5
/ref> from 1910 to 1913. Their name derived from a bottled water produced at the Hotel. The Hotel bordered on a local

salt lick A mineral lick (also known as a salt lick) is a place where animals can go to lick essential mineral nutrients from a deposit of salts and other minerals. Mineral licks can be naturally occurring or artificial (such as blocks of salt that farm ...

and

mineral spring Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produces hard water, water that contains dissolved minerals. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the spring water during its passage underg ...

and the minerals from the spring made the water act as an effective and marketable natural

laxative Laxatives, purgatives, or aperients are substances that loosen stools and increase bowel movements. They are used to treat and prevent constipation. Laxatives vary as to how they work and the side effects they may have. Certain stimulant, lubri ...

. The product was labeled as " Sprudel Water" (from German "Sprudelwasser" meaning "sparkling water"). Their frequent rivals, the French Lick Plutos, came from a hotel on the same spring that had also bottled the water and sold it as " Pluto Water".

Competition

The West Baden Sprudels played long before the Negro National League formed in 1920, but still against many of the great pre-

teams of the day, including the

Chicago American Giants The Chicago American Giants were a Chicago-based Negro league baseball team. From 1910 until the mid-1930s, the American Giants were the most dominant team in black baseball. Owned and managed from 1911 to 1926 by player-manager Andrew "Rube" Fo ...

Indianapolis ABCs The Indianapolis ABCs were a Negro league baseball team that played both as an independent club and as a charter member of the first Negro National League (NNL). They claimed the western championship of black baseball in 1915 and 1916, and fini ...

, Cuban Stars,

Louisville White Sox The Louisville Black Caps were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisvi ...

Chicago Union Giants The Leland Giants, originally the Chicago Union Giants, were a Negro league baseball team that competed independently during the first decade of the 20th century. The team was formed via a merge of the Chicago Unions and the Chicago Columbia Gian ...

Chicago Giants The Chicago Giants were a professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois which played in the Negro leagues from 1910 to 1921. History The team was founded by Frank Leland after he and his partner, Rube Foster, split up the Leland Giant ...

, French Lick Plutos, and the Brooklyn All Stars.

Rosters

1910

1911

1912

1913

1914

1915

References

External links

www.seamheads.com
{{Negro League teams, Independent Negro league baseball teams Defunct baseball teams in Indiana Baseball teams disestablished in 1915 Baseball teams established in 1910