Sulphur Dell

Sulphur Dell

Suffer Hell
Sulphur Dell, with its famous right field terrace
Former names	Sulphur Spring Park (1885–1889) Athletic Park (1890–1907)
Location	900 Fifth Avenue North Nashville, Tennessee United States
Coordinates	36°10′22″N 86°47′08″W / 36.17278°N 86.78556°W / 36.17278; -86.78556
Capacity	1,000 (1894)[5] 2,500 (1901)[6] 7,000 (1927)[4] 8,000 (1932)[7] 8,500 (1938)[4]
Field size	1885–1926: Left Field: 362 ft (110 m) Center Field: 485 ft (148 m) Right Field: 362 ft (110 m) 1927–1963: Left Field: 334 ft (102 m) Center Field: 421 ft (128 m) Right Field: 262 ft (80 m)
Surface	Grass
Construction
Built	November 1884 – May 24, 1885
Opened	March 30, 1885
Renovated	1893, 1894, 1897, 1908, 1927, 1951
Expanded	1893, 1894, 1897, 1920, 1938
Closed	September 7, 1963 (last Vols game)
Demolished	April 16, 1969
Construction cost	$7,600 (1885)[1] ($258,000 in 2023 dollars[2])
Architect	William R. Gunn (1885)[3] Marr and Holman (1927)[4]
General contractor	J. B. Hinson Co. (1927)[4]
Tenants
Nashville Americans (SOU) 1885–1886 Nashville Blues (SOU) 1887 Nashville Tigers (SOU) 1893–1894 Nashville Seraphs (SOU) 1895 Nashville Centennials (CL) 1897 Nashville Vols (SA/SAL) 1901–1961, 1963 Nashville Standard/Elite Giants (Indp.) 1920–1928 Nashville Stars (NML) 1942 Nashville Black Vols/Cubs (NSL) 1945–1951

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.

Amateur teams began playing baseball in the area known as Sulphur Spring Bottom as early as 1870 when it was a popular recreation area noted for its natural sulphur spring. A wooden grandstand was built in 1885 to accommodate patrons of the Nashville Americans, who were charter members of the original Southern League. Several other professional baseball teams followed the Americans, but the ballpark's longest tenant was the Southern Association's Nashville Vols, who played there from 1901 to 1963. Sportswriter Grantland Rice coined the Sulphur Dell moniker in 1908.

The stadium's original alignment, in which home plate faced southwest toward the Capitol, meant that batters would often have to compete with the afternoon sunlight shining in their eyes. Prior to the 1927 season, the ballpark was demolished and rebuilt as a concrete-and-steel structure on the southwestern side of the block with home plate facing northeast. The ballpark's best-known features were its short distance to the right field wall (262 ft (80 m)) and its significant terrace or sloping outfield: a steep incline that ran along the entire outfield wall, most dramatically in right and center fields.

In its prime, Sulphur Dell was nestled in an area that was home to the city's garbage dump, stockyards, and other various warehouses. The Vols folded after the conclusion of the 1963 season. Amateur baseball teams played there in 1964, and it was converted to a speedway for three weeks in 1965. The stadium then served as a tow-in lot for Metro Nashville, before being demolished on April 16, 1969. Until 2014, it was the location of a number of parking lots used by state employees. Since 2015, it has been the location of First Horizon Park, the home stadium of the Triple-A Nashville Sounds baseball team.