After honoring two Bisbee baseball greats with their 12th annual Copper City Classic vintage baseball tournament, the Friends of Warren Ballpark are inviting families and baseball fans back to the ballpark for their Independence Day celebration.
Vintage baseball is played by rules dating back to the 19th century. There’s an element of showmanship, even featuring historically accurate uniforms and equipment, but the games themselves are legitimate, making for a fun show for longtime baseball fans and newcomers.
“Vintage baseball is a sport that started as a result of Civil War reenactors becoming bored with reciting the Battle of Gettysburg over and over and over again,” said Mike Anderson, historian for the Friends of Warren Ballpark. “They decided they wanted to be involved in something that had to do with living history.”
In April, Friends of Warren Ballpark hosted nine such teams for their Copper City Classic tournament. The tournament honors a new set of ballplayers each year with historical connections to the ballpark.
This year’s festivities celebrated Carl Glass, a Buffalo Soldier who served in two World Wars and played baseball in Bisbee when stationed at Fort Huachuca for the 10th U.S. Cavalry, later going on to a long Negro League pitching career.
“Baseball was pretty much the only way that a black man could compete against a white man of those days on an equal level,” Anderson said. “There were a lot of Black players at Fort Huachuca…the United States Army in Arizona provided a large number of very competent baseball players to the Negro Leagues.”
The event also highlighted the career and accomplishments of Jesse Flores, the first Mexican-born major league pitcher. Flores had never played baseball before signing for the Bisbee Bees, at the time a minor league affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. He posted a stellar 24-6 record his first season as a starter.
His success saw him make the big leagues in 1938, playing for the Cubs, Athletics and Indians. After his playing career, Flores became a renowned scout for the Minnesota Twins covering most of Southern California. He is credited with signing dozens of eventual big leaguers, including former Arizona Diamondbacks manager and University of Arizona baseball coach Chip Hale and Baseball Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven.
“The Pacific Coast League had placed a ban on Mexican born players for years,” Anderson said. “(Flores) broke the barrier in 1938 that kept Mexican-born players from making it to West Coast organized baseball.”
The tournament drew over 1,000 fans over two days of games, a record turnout for the event. Ticket proceeds went toward the restoration of Warren Ballpark’s historic facilities.
Built in 1909, it’s the oldest ballpark in Arizona, and one of the oldest professional baseball stadiums in the United States. The long list of players who have graced its field include greats like Honus Wagner and John McGraw, as well as trailblazers like Glass and Flores. But the ballpark’s place in history extends far beyond the game of baseball.
In 1917, mining company Phelps Dodge kidnapped thousands of workers who went on strike over poor working conditions. These miners were held at Warren Ballpark and demanded to return to work. The 1,286 workers who refused were loaded on manure-covered trains and deported from Bisbee to the New Mexico town of Hermanas.
New Mexico governor Washington Ellsworth Lindsey wired President Woodrow Wilson, who sent U.S. Army troops to escort the miners to Columbus, where they were sheltered in tents for two months. The president manned a commission to investigate the deportation, which they found wholly illegal, leading to the 1918 arrest of 21 Phelps Dodge executives.
“This ballpark has an incredible history that connects to all 16 of the pre-expansion major league teams, that connects to labor history through the Bisbee deportation,” Anderson said. “It’s just incredible. The more research I did, the more fascinated I was by the connections.”
Now, Anderson looks ahead to the ballpark’s next big event, and one of Bisbee’s favorite pastimes — the Fourth of July.
“Fourth of July in Bisbee is an incredibly fun event the whole day,” Anderson said. “It’s an old-fashioned Fourth of July on a scale where both locals and expatriates come back.”
Warren Ballpark will host teams from Tucson, Phoenix, Yuma and Bisbee for a series of three games, followed by a firework show. The games will start following the conclusion of the Warren Fourth of July Parade, which kicks off at 11 a.m. Admission is free.
“Our Copper City Classic is a fundraiser,” Anderson said, “but we decided that for Fourth of July, let people come into the ballpark for free.”
4th of July Vintage Baseball Games
WHEN: 1 p.m. Tuesday, July 4
WHERE: Warren Ballpark, 73 S. Arizona Street, Bisbee
COST: Free (donations accepted/encouraged)
