Public Eye

Brookside Park south of the Rose Bowl was a favored spring training location for baseball teams before they migrated to duller climes such as those of Arizona and Florida.

The Chicago White Sox did the spring thing in Pasadena in 1938, and the Pasadena Library is planning an Art Night exhibit Oct. 9 featuring negatives from the collection of the Pasadena Star-News and an old sister paper, as described by reference librarian Dan Mclaughlin:

"The library has had in its possession for at least 20 years a box inside of which are a few hundred envelopes with such titles as 'Pasadena 1938 Baseball White Sox Train Brookside Park' or 'Pasadena 1942 Dog Show Junior League Advance.' Inside each envelope was a collection of negatives that had fused together because of water damage.

"We have had a photo restoration intern separate the negatives and preserve as best she could the documentation that went with the negatives. Based on the notes and the contents of the photos we are guessing that these were photos taken for various photo essays in both the Pasadena Star News and the Pasadena Post from about 1938-1942.

"The library is participating in Art Night this October 9, 2009 with baseball as its theme and more specifically we would like to do a display that features the photographs showing Spring Training, 1938. In addition to being very interesting photos of professional baseball in Pasadena, there are two additional items of interest about the 1938 White Sox here in Pasadena. One is that a team consisting of local ball players, including Jackie Robinson, played the White Sox and did very well. The manager of the White Sox was overheard saying something to the effect of, 'If that kid was white I'd sign him up right now.' The other story out of that spring training camp is that of Monty Stratton, a rising pitching star who the following winter shot himself in a hunting accident and attempted to come back as a one legged pitcher. His story is told in the 1949 move 'The Stratton Story' starring Jimmy Stewart and June Allison."

I think I saw that flick on TV in the '60s. Is Jimmy Stewart not the perfect man for the role?