I am very pleased to add the newest documentary to the pre-war list. A new film by four-time Emmy winning documentarian Larry Foley debuted in October.
It is currently making the rounds of public television and is being offered on DVD. The title is THE FIRST BOYS OF SPRING, the birth of Spring Training in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
The film is narrated by Billy Bob Thornton with Peter Coyote providing the voice of Waite Hoyt and others. Also featured in the film are prominent historians Charles Alexander (Cobb, Hornsby, McGraw among others), Marty Appel (Slide Kelly Slide), Leigh Montville (The Big Bam), Gerald Wood (Joe Wood), Bill Jenkinson (The Year Babe Hit 104 Homeruns) and Tim Reid. There is at least one Net54er that shows up occasionally in the film too?
The hour long film covers the first trip of Spalding and Anson's Colts in 1886 through the 1920's with some additional material into the 1950's with some Negro League teams still heading to Hot Springs.
There is a nice trailer on youtube and the DVD is available through the University of Arkansas Press for $19.95. The first two printings of the DVD sold out and they now available the third printing.
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