Nashville Vols all-time roster

In this photograph of a baseball team, seventeen men wearing dark uniforms and caps are sitting on a raised parcel of dirt in three rows facing the camera.
The 1901 Nashville Baseball Club won the first Southern Association pennant.[1]

The Nashville Vols were a Minor League Baseball team that played in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1901 to 1963.[2] They were established as charter members of the Southern Association in 1901.[3] Known as the Nashville Baseball Club during their first seven seasons, they became the Nashville Volunteers (regularly shortened to Vols) in 1908.[4] Nashville remained in the Southern Association until the circuit disbanded after the 1961 season.[3] The team sat out the 1962 campaign but returned for a final season in the South Atlantic League in 1963 before ceasing operations altogether.[2] Over 62 seasons, 1,222 players competed in at least one game for the Vols. Of those, 567 also played in at least one game for a Major League Baseball team. Seventeen player-managers served in the role of manager concurrent with their on-field playing.[5]

The Southern Association, of which the Volunteers were members for the entirety of its 61-season run, operated at the Class B (1901), Class A (1902–1935), Class A1 (1936–1945), and Double-A (1946–1961) levels of the minors.[2] The South Atlantic League was at the Double-A level during Nashville's only year of membership.[2] In 35 seasons, the Vols were not affiliated with any Major League Baseball team. Across 27 seasons, they served as a farm club for six major league franchises: the New York Giants (1934–1935, 1952–1954),[6] Cincinnati Reds (1936–1937, 1955–1960),[7] Brooklyn Dodgers (1938–1940),[8] Chicago Cubs (1943–1951),[9] Minnesota Twins (1961),[10] and Los Angeles Angels (1963).[11] The Vols typically owned the majority of their players, and these major league clubs furnished Nashville with additional players to round out the roster.[3]

Twenty-four of the team's players distinguished themselves after their playing time in Nashville by winning a Major League Baseball award, being named to a major league All-Star team, or being elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Jake Daubert and Bucky Walters each won Most Valuable Player Awards. Dusty Rhodes won the Babe Ruth Award. Johnny Edwards won a Gold Glove Award. Twenty-one alumni were selected to play in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Kiki Cuyler and Waite Hoyt were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

  1. ^ "1901 Southern League Standings". Stats Crew. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d "Nashville, Tennessee Encyclopedia". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Weiss, Bill; Wright, Marshall (2001). "47. 1940 Nashville Vols". Minor League Baseball. Archived from the original on October 12, 2020. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  4. ^ "'Volunteers' is the New Name for Nashville's Baseball Club". The Nashville American. Nashville. February 29, 1908. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Seely, Chad; Perry, Collin; Scopel, Doug (2022). 2022 Nashville Sounds Media Guide (PDF). pp. 217–218. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 5, 2022 – via Minor League Baseball.
  6. ^ "San Francisco Giants Minor League Affiliates". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved November 23, 2023.
  7. ^ "Cincinnati Reds Minor League Affiliates". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved November 23, 2023.
  8. ^ "Los Angeles Dodgers Minor League Affiliates". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved November 23, 2023.
  9. ^ "Chicago Cubs Minor League Affiliates". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved November 23, 2023.
  10. ^ "Minnesota Twins Minor League Affiliates". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved November 23, 2023.
  11. ^ "Los Angeles Angels Minor League Affiliates". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved November 23, 2023.