1908 Nashville Vols season

The 1908 Nashville Vols season was the 15th season of minor league baseball in Nashville, Tennessee, and the Nashville Vols' 8th season in the Southern Association. The Vols finished the previous season in last place, but this year won the league pennant, by defeating he New Orleans Pelicans 1-0 on the last day of the season in a game dubbed by Grantland Rice "The Greatest Game Ever Played In Dixie."

This is also the season Rice dubbed the ballpark Sulphur Dell. The team's player-manager was Bill Bernhard. The team featured just two players from Tennessee: Pryor McElveen and Hub Perdue. First baseman Jake Daubert led the league in home runs with six.

Before the season
The Vols finished last place in the Southern Association in 1907. A new group of men purchased the team, including Ferdinand E. Kuhn, James B. Carr, Thomas James Tyne, J. T. Connor, James A. Bowling, Robert L. Bolling, Rufus E. Fort, and William G. Hirsig. Well known attorney S. A. Champion supplied legal services. The group envisioned an ambitious project of stadium renovations at Sulphur Dell, and managed to cull $50,000. Kuhn was selected to head the Board of Directors. He went on a trip to Ponce de Leon Park in Atlanta to observe a modern park and plan renovations.

Kuhn hired Bill Bernhard as manager.

Game log

 * Legend:      = Win       = Loss       = No decision Bold = Vols team member Reference:
 * Legend:      = Win       = Loss       = No decision Bold = Vols team member Reference:

Opening day
Sportswriter and Vanderbilt baseball coach Grantland Rice accompanied the team to Atlanta. President Kuhn ordered a line score hung up on a slate board outside Sulphur Dell, for local fans to follow the game.

Mike McCormick leaves
On June 15, team captain Mike McCormick had a heated exchange with fans and ultimately abandoned the team.

Despite this, the Vols changed the team and went on a winning streak as a result. On June 20 in an 8–0 win over Montgomery, Butler hit a then-rare, outside-the-park home run.

Seventeen inning contest
The seventeen-inning game on July 9 against Mobile was declared a tie. Both pitchers received praise, and Hamilton Love wrote Perdue "has done more than any one man to hold up the team."

Carl Sitton's debut
On August 7, Southern Association rookie Sitton debuted against the Crackers, winning a close game 2–1 and striking out eight.

Hub Perdue's doubleheader
On September 3, Hub Perdue pitched a shutout until the final inning, when he let a run across. He then insisted on pitching the second game of a doubleheader, and pitched a shut-out win.

John Duggan's no-hitter
On September 10, Nashville's John Duggan pitched a no-hitter, the second in team history, against the Little Rock Travelers at Sulphur Dell. Only two Little Rock batters reached base, one via walk and another on a fielding error. Nashville's Pryor McElveen, who had earlier misplayed the ball at third, drove in Doc Wiseman in the sixth inning for the only run of the game, a 1–0 win.

Last game vs. New Orleans
According to one account, "By one run, by one point, Nashville has won the Southern League pennant, nosing New Orleans out literally by an eyelash. Saturday's game, which was the deciding one, between Nashville and New Orleans was the greatest exhibition of the national game ever seen in the south and the finish in the league race probably sets a record in baseball history".

Carl Sitton's spitball defeated Ted Breitenstein 1–0 in the "Greatest Game". Sitton pitched a complete-game, nine-strikeout, four-hit, shutout.

Nashville scored in the bottom of the seventh inning. With two outs, catcher Ed Hurlburt hit a single. Then Sitton did too. Harry "Deerfoot" Bay bunted perfectly down the third base line to load the bases, Bay's fondest memory in his long baseball career. Doc Wiseman then drove in the winning run. Sitton was thrown out at home after Hurlburt scored. The time of the game was one hour and forty-two minutes.

Season standings



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Record vs. opponents



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Roster
Twenty-four players competed for the Vols over the course of the season. Of these, Daubert, Butler, Wiseman, Perdue, and Sitton were named by Nashville Banner sportswriters Fred Russell and George Leonard to an all-time team consisting of top Nashville players from 1901 to 1919.

Starters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; AVG = Batting average; SLG = Slugging percentage; SB = Stolen bases

Pitchers

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Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; W% = Winning percentage

Other pitchers

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