By Chase Hartsell
As the birthplace of professional baseball’s spring training tradition, Hot Springs, Arkansas, is no stranger to the history of America’s pastime. Any town that has hosted the likes of National Baseball Hall of Fame members Babe Ruth, Cy Young, Jackie Robinson, and Henry “Hank” Aaron is sure to have its fair share of stories. Even still, some stories and hidden heroes of the game’s history in the Spa City have slipped through the cracks.
Most baseball fans are likely familiar with the fact that, in 1947, Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier. What may go unrealized, though, is that some minor leagues required pioneers similar to Robinson even years later.
One such league was the Cotton States League (CSL), an organization of minor league clubs across the states of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. As the 1953 season approached, the CSL had yet to be integrated. One member team based out of Hot Springs looked to change that.
On April 1, 1953, the Hot Springs Bathers signed brothers Jim and Leander Tugerson. The sibling pitchers were from the Polk County community of Winter Haven, Florida, which, in modern times, is approximately an hour by car east of the city of Tampa. In 1952, the two threw for the Indianapolis Clowns: baseball’s answer to the Harlem Globetrotters at the time. With Jim and Leander in their rotation, the Clowns brought home a Negro American League title. That championship team also featured a young Henry “Hank” Aaron, who spent time as Jim’s roommate over the course of the season.
Even after Jackie Robinson’s integration of Major League Baseball in 1947, there were minor leagues in need of similar pioneers years later. | Photo: Chase Hartsell 
Jim and Leander Tugerson pitched for the 1952 Negro American League Champion Indianapolis Clowns. Future National Baseball Hall of Fame member Henry “Hank” Aaron was Jim’s roommate. | Photo: Negro Leagues Baseball Museum 
Jim and Leander Tugerson pose for a promotional photo in their Hot Springs Bathers uniforms shortly after being signed on April 1, 1953. | Photo: Sporting News/Polk County History Center
As a minor league rooted in a southern United States still ruled by the laws of Jim Crow, there was, expectedly, opposition amongst CSL members. Even when the Bathers revealed their plans to throw the Tugersons only in home games at Jaycee Park, other CSL team owners felt the limitation on the two brothers’ participation in the league was not enough. As a result, on April 6, 1953, they voted 6-0 to expel the Bathers from the league. The Hot Springs club, led by team president Lewis Goltz, continued to stand by its new players.
Just nine days after the vote, the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues overruled the CSL’s decision and reinstated the Bathers. The team did not take the field with its new signees, though, as Jim and Leander Tugerson would be sent to Tennessee to play out the season with the Knoxville Smokies (known today as the Tennessee Smokies, the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs).
Hot Springs, however, did not give up on bringing the Tugersons to Jaycee Park. JET Magazine reports indicate that, as early as May 7, Lewis Goltz “warned officials that the Tugersons would be back [the] next year, if not [that] season.” Less than two weeks later, Goltz followed through on this promise.
On May 20, the Bathers called Jim Tugerson back to the Spa City for a start against CSL foe Jackson. Tugerson’s start served as a highly-anticipated event in the community, and 1,500 fans flocked to Hot Springs’ home field to witness the right-hander’s long-awaited debut with the Bathers. That debut never came to pass.
Before a pitch could be thrown, CSL president Al Haraway, who had opposed the Tugersons’ participation in his league from the start, declared that Hot Springs must forfeit the contest. While an article published in Jackson’s own Clarion-Ledger the following day suggests that Hot Springs did not take immediate action in regards to Jim’s roster status, JET writes that, by early June, Lewis Goltz had “returned Tugerson to Knoxville, promis[ing] not to recall him.”
While neither group achieved the integration they longed for in 1953, the Tugersons and the Bathers did witness positives in the year to come. Though Leander’s work that season was limited by an arm injury, Jim led the Smokies’ Mountain States League (MSL) with 29 wins on the season. He proved to be the team’s ace in a memorable run to the 1953 MSL title. Hot Springs, just one year removed from a 43-83 campaign, posted a 63-61 record in 1953. The club forced a one-game playoff with Jackson for fourth place in the Cotton States League, but fell just short to cement a fifth-place finish.
Jim Tugerson, Hot Springs’ newest signee, is promoted as a main attraction in an upcoming Bathers exhibition. Despite the fanfare, Tugerson would never appear in a Cotton States League game with Hot Springs. | Photo: Hot Springs Bathers 
After being sent to the Knoxville Smokies, Jim served as his new team’s ace. He led the Mountain States League with 29 wins and helped Knoxville claim the 1953 MSL title. | Photo: Knoxville News Sentinel/Polk County History Center
Before the year ended, Jim attempted to sue the CSL for barring him from playing for Hot Springs. According to an article published in JET on September 24, 1953, “Federal Judge John E. Miller denied that the Cotton States League violated pitcher Jim Tugerson’s civil rights when it refused to the let him play” because the party denying his entry consisted of “private organizations and individuals.” Nonetheless, Jim finally received the opportunity to pitch at Jaycee Park during a barnstorming exhibition against his former team, the Indianapolis Clowns, in September. Tugerson put on a dominant performance, leading his squad to a 14-1 victory.
In 1954, Hot Springs achieved its goal of integrating the CSL. On July 20 of that year, Uvoyd Reynolds, a recent graduate from local Langston High School, debuted with the Bathers as the first African-American ballplayer in league history. While his professional career lasted only five games, the Hot Springs Historic Baseball Trail honored Reynolds by including his name on a plaque of notable figures that participated in the Spa City’s baseball tradition. Jim and Leander Tugerson also received a tribute on the sign, though they are collectively listed as “The Tugerson Brothers” without mention of their first names. This marker can be found in three locations: the first is located near the Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo, which sits across the road from the former location of Whittington Park on Whittington Avenue. Identical markers are placed in front of the entrance to Oaklawn Park Racetrack and near the Hot Springs Visitor Center, respectively, on Central Avenue.
After his injury-shortened 1953 campaign, Leander Tugerson retired from professional baseball. For Jim Tugerson, however, 1953 marked the beginning of a successful career in the minor leagues. While he never reached the major leagues, Tugerson continued to pitch for an additional five seasons and even made it to Triple-A with the Dallas Rangers of the American Association in 1959. He finished with 86 wins and over 1,000 strikeouts in six seasons of minor league ball.
In 1965, Leander Tugerson passed away in his native state of Florida just four days after turning 38 years old. His older brother, Jim, would outlive him by 18 years. According to his biography by Society of American Baseball Research historian Peter Morris, Jim returned to Winter Haven and served as a police officer there for over 25 years, going on to reach the rank of lieutenant. He also remained involved in baseball by serving as a youth coach in the area. Morris writes that as he coached a game exactly one month after turning 60, Jim Tugerson experienced a life-ending heart attack in 1983. Inspired by his service to the Winter Haven community, the city council voted to rename a local baseball field in his honor. To this day, Tugerson Field stands as a tribute to the baseball pioneer, who continued to leave a positive impact even after his days on the mound concluded.
“The City of Winter Haven is very proud of the legacy Jim and Leander created,” said Jayme Jamison, who serves as as a curator of education and visitor engagement at the Polk County History Center in Bartow, Florida.
Jamison explained that, while the Polk County History Center does not currently have access to any archival items related to the Tugersons, the facility has “done a bit of work correlating some secondary sources and creating general descriptions for [its] exhibitions and features” concerning the brothers. In 2022, Polk Government Television, which broadcasts via regional cable and online platforms, created an informational segment about the Tugersons as a part of its Black History Month program. The segment is available to watch now on the Polk Government channel on YouTube.
Back in Hot Springs, Jaycee Park was eventually absorbed into the local Boys & Girls Club, which closed in 2018. The facility was later demolished to make way for the Majestic Park baseball and softball complex that opened in 2022. Today, Majestic Park encourages young men and women of all backgrounds to play ball on the same site where the Tugerson brothers attempted to integrate the CSL 70 years ago. The Natural State Collegiate League (NCSL), which began in 2022 and plays its games at Majestic, paid tribute to Hot Springs’ historic minor league club by making the Bathers one of its four founding teams. In 2023, after finishing the regular season in sixth place and losing their first playoff game, the Bathers rallied with three straight wins to claim their first NSCL championship.
The legacy of the Hot Springs Bathers lives on at Majestic Park. The Natural State Collegiate League paid tribute to Hot Springs’ historic minor league club by making the Bathers one of its four founding teams in 2022. | Photo: Chase Hartsell 
Today, Majestic Park (pictured) encourages young men and women from all backgrounds to play ball. | Photo: Chase Hartsell 
After finishing the regular season in sixth place and losing their first playoff game, the 2023 Bathers rallied to win their first NCSL Championship. | Photo: Natural State Collegiate League
For more information on the history of the Hot Springs Bathers, check out Don Duren’s book Bathers Baseball. To learn more about Jim’s momentous 1953 season, look into R.S. Allen’s biography Schoolboy: Jim Tugerson: Ace of the ’53 Smokies.
The preceding article is dedicated to Mike Dugan (1954-2021). Dugan was a native of Hot Springs and, as a small child, attended Bathers games during the team’s final seasons. A lifelong baseball fan, he later served as a leading curator for the Hot Springs Historic Baseball Trail and a board member at the Hot Springs Boys & Girls Club. In his final years, Dugan was a driving force in the city’s “Home Run for Hot Springs” campaign, which led to the construction of the Majestic Park complex. Dugan Plaza, the hub of the Majestic facility, is named in his honor. Dugan would have turned 69 on July 17.
Chase Hartsell Sports 
2 thoughts on “Hot Springs’ Hidden Heroes: Jim and Leander Tugerson”