The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
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The St. Louis Cardinals in Avon Park, 1927–1929

Summary

The St. Louis Cardinals held Major League Baseball spring training in Avon Park for three consecutive seasons from 1927 through 1929.[leib-spring-training][almanac-spring-training-nl] Arriving as the reigning 1926 World Series champions, the Cardinals transformed Avon Park into a prominent Grapefruit League venue, drawing major league clubs including the New York Yankees, Washington Senators, Philadelphia Athletics, and Philadelphia Phillies to Cardinal Field.[fgl-roar-of-the-20s][fhb-cardinals-1927-1929]

1. Landing the World Champions

Avon Park businessman Colonel Charles R. Head, a personal friend of St. Louis Cardinals owner Sam Breadon, led the civic effort to relocate the team’s spring camp from San Antonio, Texas, to Avon Park following the Cardinals’ 1926 World Series triumph.[fgl-roar-of-the-20s][fhb-cardinals-1927-1929]

Stadium Construction and Lease Terms

To accommodate the major league club, the city and local boosters constructed Cardinal Field (later renamed Charles R. Head Field), featuring a five-acre clayed playing surface, professional drainage, modern clubhouse facilities, and a concrete grandstand.[fhb-cardinals-1927-1929]

Contemporary reporting in La Gaceta on 25 March 1927 confirms that Breadon signed a formal three-year contract running through 1929, leasing the ballpark through a syndicate of local citizens who held reciprocal lease arrangements with the City of Avon Park.[gaceta-1927-03-25] In January 1928, the city awarded a contract to add a permanent structural steel roof over the grandstand.[gaceta-1928-01-05] Contemporary press accounts indicate the municipal guarantee provided to the Cardinals was approximately $7,500 to $15,000 annually.[leib-spring-training][gaceta-1929-03-21]

2. Spring Training Operations and Roster Highlights

The Avon Park camp served as the seasonal headquarters for Hall of Fame players and key contributors during a legendary era of Cardinals baseball:

  • 1927: Second baseman Frankie Frisch conducted his first spring workouts in Avon Park following the blockbuster trade that sent player-manager Rogers Hornsby to the New York Giants.[fhb-cardinals-1927-1929] Shortstop Tommy Thevenow, hero of the 1926 World Series, reported to camp after settling his contract in mid-March.
  • 1928: Star first baseman Jim Bottomley and pitchers Flint Rhem and Grover Cleveland Alexander anchored the roster. On 8 March 1928, Cardinal Field hosted the official Grapefruit League opener, with the Cardinals defeating Bucky Harris’s Washington Senators 6 to 5.[star-1928-03-08] On Friday afternoon, 16 March 1928, an exhibition game against the New York Yankees drew over 5,000 spectators; the Cardinals defeated the reigning World Champion Yankees 8 to 3, with Babe Ruth hitting a towering home run clearing the right-field fence into what became Ruth Street.[newspaper-1928-03-17][fhb-cardinals-1927-1929] Before the game, local civic organizers presented Ruth with a commemorative 52-inch, 14-pound engraved bat.[fhb-cardinals-1927-1929] Contemporary wire dispatches published in The Indianapolis Times and The Brownsville Herald (datelined “AVON PARK, Fla., March 21”) documented the club’s active exhibition schedule and camp workouts continuing through late March.[indianapolis-times-1928-03-20][brownsville-herald-1928-03-23]
  • 1929: Under new manager Billy Southworth, more than forty major and minor league players trained daily at Cardinal Field. Exhibition opponents included Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics (7 March), the Washington Senators (14 March), and the Philadelphia Phillies (21 March, featuring a grand slam by Chick Hafey).

3. Relocation to Bradenton in 1930

Following the expiration of the three-year agreement at the close of the 1929 spring season, the Cardinals relocated their training base to Bradenton, Florida, where they remained through 1936.[almanac-spring-training-nl]

Breadon cited accommodation constraints (worsened by the 1927 fire that destroyed the Avon Park Hotel) and playing surface maintenance issues, claims strongly contested by Mayor C. S. Donaldson.[fhb-cardinals-1927-1929] Historical and economic research demonstrates that the collapse of the Florida land boom and the municipal debt crisis severely limited Avon Park’s ability to fund competitive financial guarantees in 1929, precipitating the club’s move to Manatee County.[leib-spring-training]

The Cardinals remain the only Major League Baseball organization ever to conduct official spring training in Highlands County.[almanac-spring-training-nl]

References

Where this comes from

Evidence
corroborated — More than one independent source agrees.
Review
unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.
Rights
society

Sources

  1. Jonathan I. Leib, Jonathan I. Leib, Major League Baseball's Spring Training in Florida, 1901–2001, The Florida Geographer (2001)
  2. Baseball Almanac, Spring Training Sites for all National League Teams — Baseball Almanac (2026)
  3. Florida Grapefruit League, The Roar of the 20s in Two Centuries — Florida Grapefruit League (2026)
  4. Jason Byrne, Jason Byrne, Cardinals Played in Avon Park from 1927–1929 — Florida History Blog (2023)
  5. La Gaceta, Tampa, La Gaceta (Tampa, Fla.), 25 March 1927: Cardinals three-year contract and park lease (1927)
  6. La Gaceta, Tampa, La Gaceta (Tampa, Fla.), 5 January 1928: Steel grandstand roof contract (1928)
  7. La Gaceta, Tampa, La Gaceta (Tampa, Fla.), 21 March 1929: Municipal spring training guarantees (1929)
  8. Denman Thompson, Evening Star, Veteran Griff Pitchers in Fine Form, Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 8 March 1928 (1928) · newspaper
  9. Associated Press / United Press Wire Dispatches, 17 March 1928: Cardinals Defeat Yankees 8–3 at Avon Park (1928) · newspaper
  10. Cardinals Training Notes and Exhibitions, The Indianapolis Times, 20 March 1928, page 8 (1928) · newspaper
  11. Cardinals Camp Dispatch (datelined 'AVON PARK, Fla., March 21'), The Brownsville Herald, 23 March 1928, page 10 (1928) · newspaper

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