Florida rst became a Major League spring training site in 1888 when the Washington Nationals trained at Jacksonville. One of their team members included who would later be instrumental in bringing other teams to the state. Palm Beach County has been an important training site since 1897 and starting in 2017 the county will host four MLB teams, including the St. Louis Cardinals and the Florida Marlins who play at Roger Dean Stadium and the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros who are playing at the new Stadium of the Palm Beaches

Washington Nationals Baltimore Orioles | Sarasota | Lakeland 1 & Houston Astros | West Palm Beach 6 11

St. Louis Cardinals Pittsburgh Pirates | Bradenton 12 Atlanta Braves | Lake Buena Vista 2 & Miami Marlins | Jupiter 7

New York Mets | Port St. Lucie | Clearwater 3 8

Boston Red Soxs Toronto Blue Jays | Dunedin 4 & Minnesota Twins | Fort Myers 9

Tampa Bay Rays | Port Charlotte New York Yankees | Tampa 5 10 ball. Hoy played for several Major League in the National Hall of Fame. The Signs of Baseball3 teams from 1888 to 1902, and taught his whole Fast Facts3 team the system of sign language. e are of hand signals has grown through Simple gestures between baseball players and their the years, with umpires dramatizing their coaches are loaded with mean- While Edward calls. Bill McGowan brought amboyant 1. e unocial anthem of American baseball, ing. ose in the know hold Dundon is signals to his umpiring school in West Palm “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” was written in complete conversations in believed to have Beach, and baseball players and coaches 1908 by Jack Norwood and Albert von Tilzer, coded silence. During an aver- been the rst continue to create new signals in an eort to both of whom had never been to a baseball age baseball game, more than a ballplayer to use trip up their competitors. is hidden lan- game. hundred signals can be hand signals as guage has brought new life to the game of exchanged. Like the game an umpire, Bill baseball, not just for the umpires and players, itself, not all aspects of hand Klem, known as but also for their dedicated fans. 2. Hotdogs are the most popular ballpark food, signals appeared at once. the “Father of with fans eating 21,357,316 hotdogs during the Baseball Um- 2014 major league season. One of the rst use of hand pires,” is recog- signaling in a baseball game nized as the rst The Equipment3 reportedly occurred in 1883, umpire to use 3.Baseball bats in the minor and major leagues when Edward “Dummy” such signals to are made from wood. However, metal bats are In 1889 A.K. Schaap patented the used at the college level. Dundon, the rst deaf profes- Bill Klem showing safe sign.Courtesy National Baseball Hall of Fame. dierentiate rst baseball catcher’s mask. sional baseball player, used hand between balls signals while umpiring a game. As a nine-year- and strikes. Bill Klem began his umpiring old, Dundon began playing baseball at the Ohio 4. A must have lacing Institute for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, As one solid piece of wood, most with exactly 108 stitches. It also must have a the rst secondary school in the United States to bats are made from maple or white circumference between 9.00 and 9.25 inches, a oer a baseball program. Students communicated ash. weight between 5.00 and 5.25 ounces, and two with hand signals, which Dundon brought to pieces of cowhide laced together with red- Major League Baseball. Dundon’s athletic career waxed cotton stitches. was short-lived; he retired from baseball in 1889 to work as a bookbinder. Cross-section of a baseball. 5. While baseball games today last about 3 hours, the fastest game ever played in major Dundon wasn’t the only player league history lasted just 51 minutes on Sep- tember 28, 1919. e New York Giants who used hand signals in the Bill McGowan demonstrating a call at his umpire school. Courtesy 1880s. William “Dummy” Hoy, Florida Memory. defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 6-1 at the who was also deaf and attended Polo Grounds. the Ohio Institute, had a thriv- career in 1904, building a reputation as a supe- Atlanta Brave’s player holding a ing professional career in base- rior umpire that led to his election as the rst catcher’s mitt.