Subscribe to Baseball History Comes Alive

Free Bonus for Subscribing:

Gary’s Handy Dandy World Series Reference Guide

Get new posts by email

  Spring Training Photo Gallery

Spring Training Is Upon Us!

Let’s Play Ball!

If this photo above won’t take your mind off winter and put you in the mood for baseball, nothing will!

The snow is deep in Chicago. The air is cold. The Super Bowl is over. And now the players have all packed their bags and headed south for warmer climes! That wonderful phrase we all love to hear, “Pitchers and Catchers Report,” is now a reality. Spring games start this week.

With spring camps open, it’s time to repost one of my favorite pics (see featured photo above): It’s the Cubbies and Orioles at spring training in sunny Scottsdale, Arizona. That’s Camelback Mountain in the background. Check out the photographers right on the field. And how about those beautiful “azure skies,” as Harry Caray used to say. All of a sudden the winter doesn’t seem so bad…so what if we just got a foot of snow in Chicago this week…Spring training is here!

(Excuse me while I go start up my snow blower and clear away last night’s snow fall. I’ll be right back…)

OK…I’m back! I’m starting to warm up just looking at this pic…It’s therapeutic!

Thanks to Karl Isenberger who did a lot of research on this great photo a couple years ago when I first posted it. Analyzing the Cubs uniforms and using the 1956 Orioles Media Guide as a reference, Karl determined that this was probably the very first game played at old Scottsdale Stadium on March 10, 1956, between the visiting Cubs and home team Orioles. The Cubs won the game 3-2 on a home run by Ernie Banks.

Karl also mentioned that “five photographers on the field in a spring training game would be unusual, so there’s also a very good chance this is a photo from the top of the first inning and that’s the very first batter in the new stadium and the five photographers are trying to record the historic event.” I concur.

We came up with some identifications for the players in the photo. I initially thought the tall blonde pitcher on the left in the Cubs’ bullpen was 6’4″ Bob Anderon who I well remember from my early days as a Cub fan. I remember Bob Anderson as being a huge blond guy. But thanks to James Montemurro for pointing out that Anderson did not wear glasses (something I didn’t pick up in the photo), and is more likely 6’4″ Jim Brosnan. 

The base runner is probably Don Hoak, the Cubs’ leadoff man for most of the year. The left-handed first baseman is probably African-American Bob Boyd of the Orioles. The first base coach is slightly visible behind one of the photographers. That’s probably Ray Blades.

Both the Cubs and the Orioles had forgettable seasons in 1956. The Cubs under Stan Hack went 60-94, finishing dead last in the eight-team National League. The Orioles, managed by Paul Richards, and three years removed from being the St. Louis Browns, went 69-85 and ended up slightly better with a sixth-place finish.

What’s the temperature in Arizona right now, anyway?? The good news is that next week I’ll be on my way to Phoenix to visit the grandkids…and to take in a Spring game or two at Sloan Park. Can’t wait!

Gary Livacari 

Photo Credits: All from Google search.

We’d love to hear what you think about this or any other related baseball history topic…please leave comments below.

Subscribe to Baseball History Comes Alive. FREE BONUS for subscribing: Gary’s Handy Dandy World Series Reference Guide.  https://wp.me/P7a04E-2he

Visit the Baseball History Comes Alive Home Page