Touted as the first location for baseball’s spring training, Hot Springs provided access to bars and baths. Gangsters frequented both, too.
An audible baseball tour using your cell phone is available. I did not take it because the plaque in the sidewalk was typical of the “sights.”
The Boston Red Sox was one of several major league baseball teams who held spring practice in Hot Springs. The city also had its own professional team the Hot Springs Bathers.
The sign says:
The health benefits of “taking the baths” were a primary reason for baseball coming to Hot Springs. The players tended to drink heavily, and believed the hot bath regimen could “boil out” the impurities in their system. The Backstaff, still In use as a bath-house, was. built in 1912 and hosted many prominent players. The 1915 Fordyce Bathhouse is now the National Park Visitor Center. Tours include the gym where many players trained.
For information on the gangster connection we visited The Gangster Museum of America. (Their blog is interesting.) The museum features a guided tour of eight rooms representing different aspects of gangsters in Hot Springs. Our guide was an engaging and impressive high school student. This tour is more about the stories than the artifacts.
One of the stories was about Al Capone and his suite in the Arlington Hotel where he used to rent the entire 4th floor for his friends and guests. There is a secret door that leads to an underground tunnel. Hot Springs Creek flows through the tunnel. On the other end of the tunnel was a bowling alley exclusively for the gangsters. Remember these were the celebrities of the day and wanted to avoid getting mobbed in public. (There’s a pun in the last sentence if you look hard enough.) We watched a video of the trip through the tunnel as it looks today. There were few remnants of the bowling alley.
It’s said that the local sheriff deputies wore their uniforms to patrol during the day and a tuxedo to provide security for the casinos at night. After the Feds cracked down, they removed all the slot machines and turned them over to the sheriff to be destroyed. They were back in service within the week.
We had dinner at The Ohio Club, current restaurant and former casino. Who was there before us? Mae West, Al Jolson, Babe Ruth, Teddy Roosevelt, Bill Clinton, Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, and many others. Al Capone still sits outside.