A Peek At The Past
Spring training in Delaware? Yep. Camp was scheduled to open 78 years ago today. No go. Snow.
Following the 1943 season, the Carpenter family bought the Phillies. “We had planned on returning to Hershey for spring training,” explained general manager Herb Pennock. “The only reason we’re moving to Wilmington, DE, is because Bob Carpenter owns the (minor league) Blue Rocks and the ballpark.”
Wilmington Park, located at the corner of 30th Street and Governor Printz Boulevard, was where the Phillies held spring training.
Newspaper articles differed as to the number of players who were in camp for the March 19 start. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported 22 players including manager Freddie Fitzsimmons, who was still being carried on the roster as a pitcher. The Philadelphia Record story said 34 players were on hand.
Basketballs replaced baseballs because the first day was canceled by snow. Fitzsimmons moved the workout indoors at the Delaware State Armory. According to clippings from the Record, “Freddy Fitzsimmons hustled the team to the armory at 2 o’clock. The previous idea of working out at the rink, a building on the Carpenter estate, was canceled because of the lack of transportation. Outside of a session of calisthenics and a brief game of catch, the Phillies devoted themselves to shooting basketballs at the netted hoops and heaving the leathered globules at each other in the same sort of pre-game warm-ups practiced by the court quintets.”
The story went on to say the workout was stopped at 4 o’clock. Fitzsimmons then laid out the training rules for the camp, “Midnight curfew, an 8 o’clock rising hour and orders for the players to be in uniform and ready for duty at 10 a.m. each day.”
Whatever the number of players in camp, 33 others were serving their country during the war. Every team experienced the same situation during the war years.
The Hotel Dupont was the spring training headquarters. Fourteen exhibition games were listed on the schedule for Wilmington Park. The season opener was April 19 against the Brooklyn Dodgers at Shibe Park.
