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Baseball has long been a favorite in the communities bordering the Arroyo Seco. Ball clubs were first organized based on local employment. The Raymond Hotel ball club would play against the Green Hotel ball club at ballpark near the Raymond Station.
From 1933-42 and 1946-52, the Chicago White Sox held their spring training at Arroyo Seco Stadium in Brookside Park, Pasadena. The club suffered during “the lean years” failing to win the pennant from 1920 to 1958.
According to the local press, when the White Sox arrived in Pasadena the ballplayers were greeted by “pretty girls and sunshine.”
The life of a professional baseball player is never certain or necessarily a “dream career,” especially during the sport’s early history.
Jackie “Minter” Hayes was one of the best second basemen in the league, best known for his ability to turn a double play. In a career that spanned 14 years, he made over a thousand hits. In 1940, Hayes lost sight in one eye after a baseball injury and infection. The White Sox released him unconditionally later that year.
1951 and 1952 were promising seasons for the Chicago club. However, it wouldn’t be until later in the decade when the Sox finally won the pennant. In 1959, the White Sox appeared in their first World Series since the 1919 Black Sox Scandal, and defeated by the Los Angeles Dodgers (4-2).
The new century gave the lowly baseball club its first breakthrough season. In 2005, the Chicago White Sox won the World Series after an 88-year drought.
