How will MLB play games in the Vegas heat?
Scribbled Notes on a Cocktail Napkin: An incomplete history of how players and fans have survived baseball in extreme heat
Scribbling from Las Vegas
It’s been a verrrrrry stressful week, lounging at the Red Rock Resort and Casino pool, reading books, taking frequent dips into the water, and my thoughts have often turned to cabbage. Yes, cabbage.
In three years, or maybe four years -- if the A’s can ever figure out all the financing for their new ballpark -- Major League Baseball will be played in this tranquil desert community. The temperature at first pitch was between 98 and 104 degrees for every game this week at Las Vegas Ballpark.
A lot of questions exist about the A’s potential move, mostly about the financing, but also how players and fans will cope with the extreme Las Vegas heat.
Part of me thinks the heat is a disaster waiting to happen for everyone involved. Another part of me thinks it’s much ado about nothing, considering they’ve been playing professional baseball in Las Vegas since 1983 and now they’ll have more money than ever to make it as comfortable as possible.
Then again, the planet’s never been hotter. July 2024 was the hottest month in Las Vegas history, averaging 99.9 degrees, above the record of 97.3 degrees set just last year. The heat was responsible for at least 63 deaths in Las Vegas in the month. On July 7th, temperature reached a record 120 degrees at Harry Reid International Airport (that’s a few miles from the ballpark’s location). Seven consecutive days hit 115 degrees or higher.
The A’s are not planning to build a dome. The artist renderings illustrate an open-air ballpark with a roof of five overlapping layers.
We’re going to need a lot of cabbage.
I don’t remember the first time I heard the story of baseball people using cabbage to stay cool. It was probably one of my many conversations with longtime Giants pitcher--turned-broadcaster Mike Krukow when I was the Giants beat writer for The Oakland Tribune.
Players and umpires used to put cabbage inside their caps as a buffer from the sun. If a game was played on artificial turf, the players put the cabbage inside their cleats to keep their feet cooler.
Somebody – again, probably Krukow, maybe Dusty Baker – told me about players that appeared to be dancing in the outfield. They weren’t dancing. Their feat were so hot they’d keep lifting them up and down so they wouldn’t burn on the artificial turf.
Players don’t use cabbage very often these days. But in 2018, a GIF of Marlins coach Perry Hill putting cabbage inside his cap made the rounds on social media.
Healthline.com lists the many benefits of cabbage, including an excellent source of fiber, Vitamins C and K, anti-inflammation elements, and improved digestion. [It does not mention helping baseball players and fans stay cool. Maybe it needs to be updated.]
It turns out, Babe Ruth was one of the pioneers of using cabbage to stay cool. Because of course he was.
According to Fanbuzz, Ruth would first lay cabbage leaves out on the ice box so that they would be nice and chilled. He would then switch out the leaf every two innings. Considering the number of tours that Ruth did in the offseason around the globe to promote baseball (and himself), my theory is the Bambino learned this trick in Japan.
Think about life from 1914-35, when The Sultan of Swat was at his peak. All games were day games. The players wore wool uniforms. Air conditioning did not become common in homes until the 1960s, so players didn’t get relief in the clubhouse, and fans didn’t have AC in their cars or subway trains. We didn’t have Gatorade or Powerade or Coconut Water or Beet Juice powder and any of the other various ways of staying hydrated nowadays.
And fans wore suits to games!
Maybe it wasn’t as hot back then. Maybe we just didn’t know better as a society. Maybe we were just used to it. Maybe we were just dumb. I don’t know.
The farmers almanac recommended slicing cucumbers and rubbing them on your skin to stay cool. These were the solutions back then.
Anyway, the cabbage patch trick was passed down through the generations by players and umpires.
When umpire Randy Marsh started working in the majors, there wasn’t much help with the heat. Teams would soak towels in cold ammonia water that umpires wrapped around their necks between innings. Cabbage leaves soaked in the water could be tucked under caps.
“I learned that from Paul Runge,” Marsh said. “He used to put cabbage leaves in the hat. He had me do it when I worked with him. I don’t know if I noticed it, maybe psychologically. But a lot of guys thought that it worked better than the sun beating on your head.”
What umpires did themselves in the United States got banned in Korea.
It happened in 2005. Park Myung-Hwan was pitching in a game and twice his cap fell off, revealing the frozen cabbage under his cap to stay cool. The pitcher said he did it because he read that Ruth did it. The Korean Baseball Association met for a special session afterward, ruled that cabbage was a “foreign substance” and banned its use going forward.
So there’s no cabbage in South Korean baseball.
"Scribbled notes on a cocktail napkin" is my weekly Sunday feature that's a tribute to the sports columnists I grew up reading who penned Herb Caen-inspired three dot columns. It's an excuse to shamelessly plug my other side projects, post my favorite Immaculate Grid from the week with a story about one of the players, link to stories I found interesting, and string together loose topics on my mind.
The history of pro baseball in Las Vegas
Professional baseball arrived in Las Vegas in 1983, the nickname changing from the Stars to the 51s (as in, Area 51) to the Aviators.
The Triple-A franchise played 35 years at Cashman Field in downtown. It was oppressively hot and miserable. The facility had very little shade. They installed misters, which helped some, but also sometimes made it more humid.
The hottest I’ve ever been in my life broadcasting a baseball game was a doubleheader in July at Cashman Field. The broadcasting booth had a roof, but no windows. I kept fearing the equipment was going to melt. It wasn’t comfortable for anyone. Attendance was not very good at Cashman Field, but people still showed up.
In 2019, the Triple-A franchise moved to the master planned community of Summerlin. It was only 13 miles away, but feels like another world. Hopefully, the A’s are taking notes on what the Aviators do to help beat the heat.
While most teams have shifted starting times to around 6:35 pm, the Aviators still begin at 7:05 pm. They have a high grandstand, and the location is pretty close to Red Rock Canyon, Mount Wilson (7,070 feet) and Mount Charleston (11,916 feet). As a result, almost the entire field is already covered in shadows when the game begins.
This is a look at first pitch Saturday night.
They have enormous fans on the concourse and special seats that are more breathable for fans. It’s still hot, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a lot more comfortable than ever before. The Aviators play very few day games and none occur in the summer time.
This week’s not-so random Immaculate Grid story: Dan Quisenberry
In the 1980s, Dan Quisenberry was known as the dynamic, submarine throwing stopper for the Kansas City Royals.
[The best relief pitchers were called “stoppers” before they were called “closers.” You didn’t wait until the ninth inning to deploy them. They were used whenever you needed to stop the other team’s rally.]
The “Rolaids Relief Man Award” was presented from 1976-2012. Points were awarded based on saves and wins. The winner was often given a plaque and a fireman’s hat. Quisenberry won the award five times in a six-year stretch.
A beloved pitcher in Kansas City, Quisenberry is also remembered for hosing down fans from the bullpen on hot days at Kauffman Stadium.
Quisenberry was ahead of his time at keeping fans cool with water.
In Phoenix, the Diamondbacks put a swimming pool in their domed ballpark when it opened in 1998.
In Summerlin, the Las Vegas Aviators have a swimming pool in right-center that sells out almost every game.
The Triple-A team in Round Rock has a pool in right field. The Double-A Frisco RoughRiders have a lazy river at their ballpark. Many other teams have a play area for kids that includes a smaller area to get wet.
If the A’s don’t install some type of swimming pool and other water features in Las Vegas, they are definitely missing out.
How about some shirtless Harry Caray stories?
This is a famous photo of Harry Caray. He’s shirtless on a hot summer day at Chicago’s Wrigley Field.
Know what’s extra great about this photo?
Harry wasn’t even broadcasting the Cubs yet. Internet sleuths determined he was still broadcasting the Chicago White Sox games at the time of the photo. He just wanted to watch a Cubs day game from the stands on the North Side before broadcasting a White Sox game at night on the South Side.
Here’s another photo of a shirtless Harry Caray at a game.
As the caption indicates, it’s 1972, and Caray is broadcasting a White Sox game from the stands and bellowing out his trademark “Holy Cow.”
Society was just different ... and Harry Caray was just different.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the first thing the Bleacher Bums did when arriving at the game was take off their shirts. Sunscreen was optional. Skin cancer was an afterthought. This was common all around the country.
I don’t know exactly how hot it was in Chicago in the 1970s for these Harry Caray photos.
I do know it wasn’t as hot as Las Vegas was last month, or how hot it’ll be when the A’s move here and the planet is even warmer.
I also know that cabbage and cucumbers were once the Go-To method for players and fans to stay cool. We’ve come a long way from those days.
It’ll be so hot in Las Vegas that some fans will stay away, some fans will take off their shirts to get more sun, more shade will cover more seats than ever before, and hopefully, some fans will watch the games while in a swimming pool.
Now, if the A’s can just figure out how to pay for all of it …
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Won't it be insanely hot in Sacramento too!?