Hot Springs National Park Archives Play Ball (and Bathe?)!
Hot Springs National Park’s thermal waters have attracted baseball players to rest, recuperate, and train since the 1880s. But some teams also used the time in Hot Springs to recruit.
By the 1940s, Lewis “Snook” Wesson had been helping his father and other bathhouse attendants for over a decade. As a helper, Wesson was often let go during Hot Springs’ slow season in the summer months. But this offered Mr. Wesson a chance to pursue a career in baseball. His skills caught the attention of the New York Black Yankees, who visited Hot Springs to train in 1948, when Snook was 29. Wesson played for the Black Yankees, as well as the Indianapolis Clowns and the Birmingham Barrons, all prominent teams in the Negro American Leagues.
In 1993, at age 74, national park staff interviewed Wesson where he claimed, “We got ten thousand dollars a year. That’s for six months playin’. Then get the leave from the bathhouse. Go play ball six months for ten thousand dollars. And back in those days that was a lot of money.”
Living and working in Hot Springs National Park brought bathhouse attendants like Snook Wesson in contact with huge swaths of American society and gave him an opportunity to impress visitors in the bathhouse and on the diamond. |
Last updated: July 11, 2023