2nd annual Baseball Weekend brings in timeless Cards

The second annual Baseball Weekend, Oct. 11 and 12, will be filled with famous players like Al Hrabosky, Steve Carlton, Dick Hughes and Ted Simmons, panel discussions with local players and guided baseball field tours.

“It’s going to be a good weekend if you’re a baseball fan,” baseball historian Mike Dugan said.

The free, public event, hosted by Visit Hot Springs and the Baseball Historical Society will delve into Hot Springs’ baseball history.

“I think it will be a fun time for baseball fans and it helps us as a community to celebrate the history that we have,” Dugan said. “(Historian) Bill Jenkins … always said Cooperstown, (New York) is where the National Baseball Hall of Fame is, but nothing happened there regarding baseball … Hot Springs is somewhere history actually took place … so many great baseball players came through here and it’s a unique place in America.”

Visit Hot Springs CEO Steve Arrison said Baseball Weekend is for teaching little-league to college players how to be successful, but baseball fans of all ages are welcome.

“It’s a great opportunity for visitors and Hot Springs residents alike,” Arrison said. “Baseball Weekend gets people talking about Hot Springs and brings excitement.”

Baseball Weekend will begin at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 11, in the convention center’s Horner Hall with a talk with retired MLB player Hrabosky in “An Afternoon with Al.”

The weekend will continue at 10 a.m. Oct. 12, in the convention center

Room 103, with a meeting conducted by the Arkansas Chapter of the Society of American Baseball Research.

At 10:30 a.m., baseball historians will conduct field tours of Whittington Park and Fogel Field.

The first panel discussion, titled “Legends in Hot Springs: Stories of Spring Training” will begin at 1 p.m. in Horner Hall. It will feature baseball historians Tim Reid, Don Duren, Mark Blauer and Dugan.

Dugan said spring training is what started Hot Springs’ history in baseball.

“In 1886 the Chicago White Stockings, which we now know as the Chicago Cubs, came to Hot Springs and that was the first time any baseball team ever came south for what we now know as spring training,” he said. “Other teams thought there might be something to our celebrated hot springs, so over the course of the next 40 years, the 16 teams in the Major League came to Hot Springs, at least once.”

The second panel discussion, titled “We Made It” will start at 2:30 p.m. in Horner Hall. It will feature Arkansas ex-Major League players Alan McDill, Rich Thompson and Reggie Ritter. There will be autograph opportunities after the panel.

Baseball Weekend will conclude at 4 p.m. in Horner Hall with a discussion between retired MLB players Carlton and Simmons, moderated by Hrabosky. There will be autograph opportunities after the discussion.

Dugan said Carlton, Simmons, Hughes and Hrabosky all once played for the St. Louis Cardinals, an appealing point to people in this part of the country who mainly heard Cardinals games on the radio in the years before television broadcasts became “so prevalent.”

Arrison said last year’s Baseball Weekend attracted approximately 300 attendees, and with the “Cardinals being the team of choice this year,” he expects a good outcome.