Suffer Hell | |
 Sulphur Dell, with its famous right field terrace | |
 | |
| Former names | Sulphur Spring Park (1885–1889) Athletic Park (1890–1907) |
|---|---|
| Location | 900 Fifth Avenue North Nashville, Tennessee United States |
| Coordinates | 36°10′22″N 86°47′08″W / 36.17278°N 86.78556°W |
| Capacity | |
| Field size | 1885–1926: Left Field: 362 ft (110 m) Center Field: 485 ft (148 m) Right Field: 362 ft (110 m) 1927–1963: Left Field: 334 ft (102 m) Center Field: 421 ft (128 m) Right Field: 262 ft (80 m) |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Built | November 1884 – May 24, 1885 |
| Opened | March 30, 1885 |
| Renovated | 1893, 1894, 1897, 1908, 1927, 1951 |
| Expanded | 1893, 1894, 1897, 1920, 1938 |
| Closed | September 7, 1963 (last Vols game) |
| Demolished | April 16, 1969 |
| Construction cost | $7,600 (1885)[1] ($258,000 in 2023 dollars[2]) |
| Architect | William R. Gunn (1885)[3] Marr and Holman (1927)[4] |
| General contractor | J. B. Hinson Co. (1927)[4] |
| Tenants | |
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Sulphur Dell, formerly known as Sulphur Spring Park and Athletic Park, was a baseball park in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It was located just north of the Tennessee State Capitol building in the block bounded by modern-day Jackson Street, Fourth Avenue North, Harrison Street, and Fifth Avenue North. The ballpark was home to the city's minor league baseball teams from 1885 to 1963. The facility was demolished in 1969.
Amateur teams began playing baseball in the area known as Sulphur Spring Bottom as early as 1870 when it was a popular recreation area noted for its natural sulphur spring. A wooden grandstand was built in 1885 to accommodate patrons of the Nashville Americans, who were charter members of the original Southern League. Several other professional baseball teams followed the Americans, but the ballpark's longest tenant was the Southern Association's Nashville Vols, who played there from 1901 to 1963. Sportswriter Grantland Rice coined the Sulphur Dell moniker in 1908.
The stadium's original alignment, in which home plate faced southwest toward the Capitol, meant that batters would often have to compete with the afternoon sunlight shining in their eyes. Prior to the 1927 season, the ballpark was demolished and rebuilt as a concrete-and-steel structure on the southwestern side of the block with home plate facing northeast. The ballpark's best-known features were its short distance to the right field wall (262 ft (80 m)) and its significant terrace or sloping outfield: a steep incline that ran along the entire outfield wall, most dramatically in right and center fields.
In its prime, Sulphur Dell was nestled in an area that was home to the city's garbage dump, stockyards, and other various warehouses. The Vols folded after the conclusion of the 1963 season. Amateur baseball teams played there in 1964, and it was converted to a speedway for three weeks in 1965. The stadium then served as a tow-in lot for Metro Nashville, before being demolished on April 16, 1969. Until 2014, it was the location of a number of parking lots used by state employees. Since 2015, it has been the location of First Horizon Park, the home stadium of the Triple-A Nashville Sounds baseball team.
- ^ "The Base-Ball Season". The Daily American. Nashville. March 5, 1885. p. 4. Retrieved April 10, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
- ^ "The New Base-Ball Park". The Daily American. Nashville. December 22, 1884. p. 5. Retrieved April 3, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d Nipper 2007, p. 40.
- ^ "Stallings in Town". The Daily American. Nashville. February 13, 1895. p. 6. Retrieved March 8, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Nipper, Skip (March 16, 2015). "Nashville Bugs, Builders, and Ballpark Construction". 262 Down Right. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
- ^ Ammenheuser, David (April 10, 2015). "Coming Home to Sulphur Dell". The Tennessean. Retrieved April 4, 2020.