The Nashville Sounds Minor League Baseball team has played in Nashville, Tennessee, since being established in 1978 as an expansion team of the Double-A Southern League. [3] They moved up to Triple-A in 1985 as members of the American Association before joining the Pacific Coast League in 1998. [3] With the restructuring of the minor leagues in 2021, they were placed in the Triple-A East, which became the International League in 2022. [4] [5] The first game of the new baseball season for a team is played on Opening Day, and being named the Opening Day starting pitcher is an honor which is given to the player who is expected to lead the pitching staff that season, [6] though there are various strategic reasons why a team's best pitcher might not start on Opening Day. [7] The Sounds have used 43 different Opening Day starters in their 46 seasons. [8]
Nashville's first Opening Day game was played against the Memphis Chicks at Tim McCarver Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 15, 1978. [9] Bill Dawley was their starting pitcher that day; he took the decision in a game the Sounds lost, 4–2. [9] Their first Opening Day game held at home was an 8–7 win against the Birmingham Barons at Herschel Greer Stadium on April 9, 1981. [8] Starter Jamie Werly, who went on to win the Southern League Most Outstanding Pitcher Award that season, [10] did not figure in the decision. [11] On April 4, 2013, starter Tyler Thornburg took a no decision in the final Opening Day game at Greer Stadium, a 5–4 Sounds win. [8] [12] The team left Greer after the 2014 season, but did not play their first Opening Day game at First Horizon Park, their new facility then known as First Tennessee Park, until two years later. [8] In that game, held on April 7, 2016, Sounds starting pitcher Chris Smith was charged with the loss in a 5–0 shutout by the Oklahoma City Dodgers. [13]
Nashville's Opening Day starting pitchers have a combined Opening Day record of 11 wins, 16 losses, and 19 no decisions. At Greer Stadium, they had a record of 5 wins, 4 losses, and 8 no decisions in 17 Opening Day starts. At First Horizon Park, they have 0 wins, 2 losses, and 2 no decisions in 4 Opening Day starts. They have an aggregate record of 5 wins, 6 losses, and 10 no decisions in 21 Opening Day starts at home. Nashville starters have a record of 6 wins, 10 losses, and 9 no decisions in 25 Opening Day starts on the road.
The only Sounds pitchers with more than one Opening Day start are Bill Dawley (1978 and 1979), Rodney Imes (1990 and 1991), and Zach Jackson (2007 and 2008), each with two starts. Three Sounds Opening Day starters have also started Opening Day games in Major League Baseball: Bob Milacki for the Baltimore Orioles in 1990, [14] Wily Peralta for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2016, [15] and Chris Bassitt for the Oakland Athletics in 2021. [16]
Pitcher (#) | Number indicates multiple appearances as a Sounds Opening Day starter |
---|---|
Score (#) | Game score with Sounds runs listed first; number of innings in a game that was shorter or longer than 9 innings in parentheses |
Location | Stadium in italics denotes a Sounds home game |
W | Win earned by starting pitcher; Sounds won game |
L | Loss earned by starting pitcher; Sounds lost game |
ND (W) | No decision by starting pitcher; Sounds won game |
ND (L) | No decision by starting pitcher; Sounds lost game |
The Nashville Sounds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Nashville, Tennessee, and are named for the city's association with the music industry, specifically the "Nashville sound", a subgenre of country music which originated in the city in the mid-1950s. The team plays their home games at First Horizon Park, which opened in 2015 on the site of the historic Sulphur Dell ballpark. The Sounds previously played at Herschel Greer Stadium from its opening in 1978 until the end of the 2014 season. They are the oldest active professional sports franchise in Nashville.
Sulphur Dell, formerly known as Sulphur Spring Park and Athletic Park, was a baseball park in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It was located just north of the Tennessee State Capitol building in the block bounded by modern-day Jackson Street, Fourth Avenue North, Harrison Street, and Fifth Avenue North. The ballpark was home to the city's minor league baseball teams from 1885 to 1963. The facility was demolished in 1969.
Herschel Greer Stadium was a Minor League Baseball park in Nashville, Tennessee, on the grounds of Fort Negley, an American Civil War fortification, approximately two mi (3.2 km) south of the city's downtown district. The facility closed at the end of the 2014 baseball season and remained deserted for over four years until its demolition in 2019. Following an archaeological survey, the land is expected to be reincorporated into Fort Negley Park.
The Nashville Vols were a Minor League Baseball team that played in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1901 to 1963. Known as the Nashville Baseball Club during their first seven seasons, they became the Nashville Volunteers in 1908 in reference to Tennessee's nickname, "The Volunteer State". The Vols played their home games at Athletic Park, which had been home to the city's professional baseball teams since 1885 and was renamed Sulphur Dell in 1908.
William Derrick Bates is an American former professional baseball second baseman and pinch runner who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers and the Cincinnati Reds. In 29 career games, Bates had a batting average of .125 with six hits, two runs batted in (RBI), 11 runs, and eight stolen bases. Though his defensive position was at second base, the Reds primarily used Bates as a pinch runner. After he scored the winning run in Game 2 of the 1990 World Series, Bates never played in MLB again.
The Nashville Xpress were a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins from 1993 to 1994. They were located in Nashville, Tennessee, and played their home games at Herschel Greer Stadium, sharing the ballpark with the Triple-A Nashville Sounds of the American Association. The Xpress were named for the trains which ran along tracks beyond the outfield wall and the team's sudden arrival and expected departure.
First Horizon Park, formerly known as First Tennessee Park, is a baseball park in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. The home of the Triple-A Nashville Sounds of the International League, it opened on April 17, 2015, and can seat up to 10,000 people. It replaced the Sounds' former home, Herschel Greer Stadium, where the team played from its founding in 1978 through 2014.
The Redbirds–Sounds rivalry is a Minor League Baseball rivalry between Tennessee's two Triple-A baseball teams, the Memphis Redbirds and the Nashville Sounds. The teams compete in the West Division of the International League. Their games are played at Memphis' AutoZone Park and Nashville's First Horizon Park. From 2012 to 2015, the rivalry was incorporated into a promotion called the I-40 Cup Series.
The Triple-A Alliance was an interleague partnership between the American Association (AA) and International League (IL) Triple-A leagues of Minor League Baseball from 1988 to 1991. The two leagues played an interlocking schedule consisting of 40 to 44 interleague games per team. At the end of each season, an Alliance champion was determined in the Triple-A Classic, a best-of-seven postseason series.
The Nashville Sounds Minor League Baseball team was established in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1978, after Larry Schmittou and a group of investors purchased the rights to operate an expansion franchise of the Double-A Southern League. The Sounds played their home games at Herschel Greer Stadium from its opening in 1978 until the end of the 2014 season. In 2015, the Sounds left Greer for First Tennessee Park, now known as First Horizon Park, a new facility located on the site of the historic Sulphur Dell ballpark, home to Nashville's minor league teams from 1885 to 1963.
The Southern League All-Star Game was an annual baseball game sanctioned by Minor League Baseball between professional players from the teams of the Double-A Southern League. Each division, North and South, fielded a team composed of players in their respective divisions as voted on by the managers, general managers, and broadcasters from each of the league's eight clubs.
Nashville, Tennessee, has hosted Minor League Baseball (MiLB) teams since the late 19th century but has never been home to a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. The city's professional baseball history dates back to 1884 with the formation of the Nashville Americans, who were charter members of the original Southern League in 1885 and played their home games at Sulphur Spring Park, later renamed Athletic Park and Sulphur Dell. This ballpark was the home of Nashville's minor league teams through 1963. Of the numerous clubs to play there, the best-known and longest-operating was the Nashville Vols, who competed from 1901 to 1963, primarily in the Southern Association.