In 1946 a cattle ranch in Tucson was the site of an idea – one that sparked a Major League Baseball tradition taking place in Arizona to this day.
The history of MLB’s Cactus League begins in the Old Pueblo, when Bill Veeck sold his minor league baseball team and retired to his Tucson ranch. It wasn’t long before he returned to the sport, buying the Cleveland Indians (now known as the Guardians).
At the time, Tucson was known as a progressive city in a nation divided. Racial tension was at an all-time high, especially in the South – like Florida, where many MLB teams would spend the springs getting ready for the upcoming season. That included Veeck’s Indians.
“I think he was kind of fed up with the racism going on in Florida and the Jim Crow laws in Florida,” said MLB.com’s Matt Monagan. “He didn’t want them to be in that environment.”
Monagan recalled an anecdote when Veeck inadvertently sat in a stadium section designated for Black people. As the story goes, a sheriff approached and asked him to leave.
“He was outraged and called the mayor,” Monagan said. “The mayor said the same thing, and he threatened to move his team out of the area, and they backed down.”
But Veeck would make good on his word. The need to move only became clearer with the 1947 signing of Larry Doby, the first Black player to appear in the American League – just months after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball.
“Tucson was a place that was probably more comfortable for a guy like Larry Doby to play in, so I think that’s what kind of initiated and inspired him to move the team there,” Monagan said.
So the lightbulb went off: with its mild spring weather, proximity to Veeck’s ranch, and status as a modern-thinking community, why not bring baseball to Tucson for Spring Training?
To do that, the Indians would need someone to play against. Veeck called up New York Giants owner Horace Stoneham, who had business ventures and a winter home in Phoenix. In 1947, the pair moved their respective Spring Training regimens to the Grand Canyon State – and that was the birth of what’s now known as the Cactus League.
“Horace Stoneham visited the Buckhorn Motel in Mesa, which had these amazing hot springs,” Monagan said. “He was like, ‘this is a great place for my team to recover from injuries, to rest, to relax, and get ready for the season.
"It's this little roadside motel that was owned by a couple, and they lived there," Monagan said. "It was kind of a stopping off point for travelers. Then they dug for a well and found these hot springs. That motel was such a central part in spawning the Cactus League."
And so the modest Buckhorn Baths and Motel became home to the Giants for 25 years. Players would stay there and enjoy time in the hot springs that gave Buckhorn both its name and reputation.
"It's just funny that this little place, this roadside motel had these stars that were staying there," Monagan said. "Willie Mays, Gaylord Perry, Ernie Banks."
Once the league was up and running, more teams got the memo and moved out west – including the World Series champion New York Yankees in 1951. Owner Del Webb was from Arizona and wanted to showcase his championship squad to his home state – so the Yankees and Giants switched training facilities for the spring.
Some of baseball’s most recognizable names spent time in Tucson; think the likes of Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle. While training in Phoenix, they faced off against Cleveland at Randolph Park – now known as Reid Park.
The Yankees’ sojourn to Arizona gave it more credence as a training site. Just a year after New York’s tour of the West, the Chicago Cubs would move their own Spring Training to Mesa.
“Having that star power out there I’m sure helped to make baseball a bigger deal, especially in the spring in Tucson and Arizona,” Monagan said.
It took some time for the sport to develop a culture in Arizona — in 1986, eight teams were training in Arizona and the other 18 in Florida's Grapefruit League. By 2018, that number was split evenly with 15 clubs apiece in each location.
But eventually, in 1996, the same Indians club that introduced baseball to Tucson would relocate to – of all places – Florida.
Three clubs continued to make Tucson their spring home after that: the Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox and Colorado Rockies. But in 2009, the White Sox would buy out their contract in favor of a state-of-the-art facility in Glendale, marking the beginning of the end of Spring Training in Tucson.
The Diamondbacks and Rockies followed suit, moving up to the Phoenix metro the following year. The teams would play their final matchups in the Old Pueblo in the spring of 2010 before making the permanent move to the Phoenix area.
“We’re going to miss Tucson in many ways,” then-Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd told the Associated Press in 2010.
It ultimately came down to logistics; with just two teams in Tucson and the rest in the greater Phoenix area, it made more sense to have all the clubs train closer to one another.
“Those bus rides almost every other day, they wear at you pretty good,” Diamondbacks third baseman Mark Reynolds told the Associated Press.
Phoenix-area stadiums also had higher capacity, meaning more revenue and a larger market for teams to play in.
But the Cactus League as we know it would perhaps look very different if it weren't for that bright idea on a Tucson cattle ranch in 1946.
“This place has everything you need as a player to get ready for the season,” Rockies pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez said to Yahoo! News in 2011. “It’s awesome. To tell you the truth, I like Tucson a lot. But you can’t argue. This is progress.”
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Emma Miller is a producer for KGUN 9. Originally from Fair Lawn, New Jersey, Emma graduated from Fordham University in 2021 where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism with a minor in Mandarin Chinese. In April 2021, Emma became the first woman researcher in MLB and NHL Network history. She joined the KGUN 9 family in August 2022 after falling in love with Tucson.
