Backroads and Ballplayers #161

SPECIAL EVENTS ISSUE

All-Star/Special Events Issue 2026

Save the dates! All are free!

July begins a special time of year in baseball. The All-Star Game and the Home Run Derby have become a little overdone for media consumption, but we will all watch.

The free celebration known as Hot Springs Baseball Weekend is less than a month away, and our Robinson-Kell SABR chapter summer meeting follows on August 15. Guests are welcome. (more in future posts)

Next week, I will be at Farmer’s Bank in Greenwood on Monday, July 20, at 7:00 p.m. to present Baseball in the Arkansas Coalbelt at a meeting of the South Sebastian County Historical Society. Guests are also welcome and encouraged to attend.

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Hot Springs Baseball Weekend August 7, 8, and 9.

Murph, Crime Dog, a Spaceman, a pitcher known as Smoke, a World Series MVP they called Black Jack, and a Mad Hungarian highlight the annual gathering that has grown into a regionally celebrated baseball event.

Hot Springs Baseball Weekend is a feature story this week in Only in Arkansas. Click the link below for the complete story of Arkansas’ celebration of baseball past and present. Please return to read stories about the Home Run Derby and the lost story of a “Little League Home Run.”

Hot Springs Baseball Weekend 2026 - Only in Arkansas Link

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Home Run Derby, 2026

Sometimes, a contrived made-for-TV event works. The annual Home Run Derby is a good example.

Most of the millions who watch the pre-All-Star event have no idea about the Home Run Derby’s namesake from the 1960s. Some of us do! It was not very slick, but it was real. It was held at Wrigley Field in LOS ANGELES, and Mickey, Willie, and Hank made some pocket change by winning several of the weekly episodes.

Home Run Derby 1960

Go get a beverage; this classic episode lasts about 30 minutes. Watch the video of a Mantle Mays contest from 1960. It is a must-see.

Home Run Derby Mantle and Mays

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Meanwhile, Back in the Show: Little League Home Runs

The Royals Commit Three errors on One Play

(With apologies to my friend Darin Watson, who owns a Royals history blog you should visit) Link

I miss the Royals. Last season, Kansas City’s games came along with my subscription to the Cardinals games on FanDuel. This year, MLB manages my subscription, and they do just the opposite of last year’s plan.

I can watch the Cardinals and every other game not owned by a major network, and I am Blacked Out from all Royals, Rangers, and Astros’ games, unless they are playing the Cards. Confusing, but I do like seeing many more teams.

After watching the Royals last year, I thought they were a team on the brink of becoming a contender in their division. That was wrong, but I do miss seeing Witt Jr. He is one of the top-10 guys in the game.

Little League Home Run 7-7-2026

Things are not going well for the Royals. If you were following their games or catching the headlines, you know that last Tuesday, Kansas City committed three errors on one play and spotted the Mets three unearned runs before recording the third out of the inning.

With runners on first and second, Mets outfielder Carson Benge hit a slow chopper back toward the mound and, seconds later, was jogging across home plate after the Royals committed three errors on the same play in a meltdown that gifted New York an early three-run lead.

• Royals pitcher Seth Lugo fielded the ball, but his off-balance throw to first handcuffed first baseman Jac Caglianone for the game’s first error, allowing Benge to reach safely.

• Caglianone recovered the ball and tried to throw out Benge as he raced toward third, but his throw to no one in particular sailed past the bag and into foul territory.

• As Benge rounded third and headed for home, third baseman Nick Loftin’s relay throw also went to an imaginary catcher, allowing Benge to complete his trip around the bases for his Little League homer. I hope he did not have to wear that gladiator helmet that the Royals are so proud to anoint a home run hitter.

  

  Jac Caglianone and Smead Jolley

Lost Story of the Hit and Miss Man

So, one team made three errors on the same play, but the tale of a bad day in the career of Arkansas’ Smead Jolley is far more humiliating.

Smead Jolley was not a good outfielder. Maybe “not a good outfielder” was an understatement to much of the late 1920s baseball community. The unflattering analysis of Jolley’s defensive skills could have also been a convenient exaggeration, unfairly attached to a somewhat limited outfielder, simply because it made a good story.

Arkansas historian/author, Terry Turner, labeled Jolley “The Hit and Miss Man.” Baseball’s past is filled with colorful stories, and there is no shortage of tales about Smead Jolley’s adventures in the outfield.

One of the more questionable incidents had Jolley patrolling left field for the White Sox in a game at Philadelphia against the As, or some say it was in Cleveland against the Indians. Another possibility is that this sadly humiliating event never happened at all but is a combination of plays and embellishments that creates a tale too good to refute.

Regardless of its accuracy, the story began when a sharp single was hit Jolley’s way and rolled between his legs as he attempted to field it. He turned to play the ball after it hit the wall, and it rolled back between his legs. By that time, the runner was headed for third. Jolley ran down the ball and threw it into the home dugout. The runner scored, and Jolley had the dubious distinction of making three errors on the same play.

The fact that a box score with three errors charged to Jolley on the same play can’t be found doesn’t deter the story’s defenders. They simply explain that the official scorer took pity on the befuddled young fellow and only charged him with one error.

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