The unusual contour of the area gave Sulphur Dell ballpark these outfield dimensions:

Left Field: 334'     Center Field: 421'     Right Field:  262'

The embankment in Left Field began at 301 feet from home plate; the embankment in Right Field began at 224 feet rising at a 45-degree angle towards the fence, ending at 262 feet; the right fielder had only about a 10 foot shelf of level ground to stand on if he played against the outfield wall!

Grannis Photography

The outfield fence was made of wood and was 16 feet high.  The fence ran from the Right Field foul pole to a point 186 feet toward centerfield; the fence there was capped by a screen that added an additional 30 feet of height.  The screen decreased to 22 1/2 feet high midway to Center Field.  In later years the screen height remained the same, but a second tier of signage was added in Right Field.

The distance from the grandstands to first base was only 42 feet, and to third base was 26 feet!

Located in north Nashville near downtown, the first recorded use of this area as a ball field was in 1870.  It was bordered by what is now Fourth Avenue, Fifth Avenue (in the late 1800's Fourth Avenue was named Cherry St. and Fifth Avenue was Summer St.), Jackson St., and a spur railroad track.  The area was commonly referred to as Sulphur Springs Bottoms.

Sulphur Springs Bottoms became Nashville's baseball home during the Civil War when Union soldiers stationed in the area first taught the local citizens how to play a new game there. That game was baseball.  So named because a natural sulphur spring was nearby, residents would fill their empty containers with the odorous liquid to use for medicinal purposes, or just take a drink right from the spring.  Sometimes, they watched a game.

In 1885 Nashville fielded a team in the newly-formed Southern League and the park was referred to as Athletic Park. That same year, Cap Anson brought the Chicago Cubs to Nashville for three weeks of spring training!

When the Southern Association was born in 1901, the original cities to field a team in the new league were:  Nashville, Memphis, Little Rock, Chattanooga, Birmingham, New Orleans, Shreveport, and Selma.  Nashville's membership in the league lasted until the league folded at the end of the 1961 season.

In 1901, the Nashville team was referred to as the 'Senators'.

Do you remember these Nashville Vols players?: Buster Boguskie, Larry Taylor,  Carl Sawatski, Smoky Burgess, Bob Durnbaugh, Joe Stupak, Tommy "Buckshot" Brown, Bama Ray, Jim Burns, Roy Pardue, Oscar Chinique, Ray Hamrick, Jim Kirby

Do you remember these Nashville Vols managers?: Larry Gilbert, Charlie Dressen, Jimmy Hamilton, Rollie Hemsley, Bill Bernhardt, Lance Richbourg, Ernie White, Hub Perdue, Don Osborn, Roy Ellam, Dick Sisler, Red Robbins, Jim Turner, Newt Fisher

Over a 25-year period from 1923 through 1948 (manager of the New Orleans Pelicans from 1923-1938 and Nashville Vols from 1939-1948), Larry Gilbert won nine Southern Association championships, and only three times finished out of the first division!

Nashville won the Southern Association's regular season title in the league's first two years of existence in 1901 (Won 78, Lost 45) and 1902 (Won 80, Lost 40)!

In 1902, Selma folded its franchise after only one season and was replaced in the Southern Association by a new team from Atlanta!

Grantland Rice gave the ballpark the name Sulphur Dell™ while working as a newspaper reporter in Nashville.

The old park faced in the opposite direction until 1927.  In 1951, Fred Russell, sportswriter for The Nashville Banner reported that the old base paths from the original configuration could still be seen from the pressbox.

In 1933 and 1934 Sulphur Dell™ was home to the Negro American League Elite Giants.

The 1937 season-ending 3-game series with Knoxville at "the Dell" drew a total of only 300 fans!

During the 10 years that Larry Gilbert managed the Vols (1939 through 1948) his teams won the Southern Association pennant 4 times; his 1940 team won 101 games and beat Houston of the Texas League in the Dixie Series 4 games to 1!!

Between August 17 and September 7, 1941, the Nashville Vols played in fourteen doubleheaders.  In fact, from August 31 to September 7, the Vols played seven consecutive doubleheaders; in each one the Vols split with their opponent!

In 1943, the Nashville Vols began a working agreement with the Chicago Cubs that lasted through the 1951 season!

Four Nashville managers won the Southern Association pennant in their first year: Newt Fisher (1901), Bill Bernhard (1908), Roy Ellam (1916), and Rollie Hemsley (1949).

The New York Giants were the Vols' major league affiliate in 1952, 1953, and 1954!

In 1960, the Cincinnati Reds ended their working agreement with Nashville that had begun in 1955 and the Vols were added by the Minnesota Twins in an affiliation that lasted for one season in 1961!

In 1962, Sulphur Dell sat silent as there was no professional baseball in Nashville that year.

In 1963 the Nashville Vols baseball club was resurrected in the South Atlantic League as a Los Angeles Angels affiliate, but after only one season the team ceased operations.  South Atlantic League Standings at the end of 1963: 

In 1965, country music singer Faron Young and local investor Pete Page purchased the old ballpark and turned it into Sulphur Dell Speedways.  Small crowds forced the owners to close after 11 short weeks of racing events.

After becoming a city tow-in lot, the park was dismantled in 1969.

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