Spring Training in Sarasota, 1924-1960: New York Giants and Boston Red Sox

The warm weather and easy-going lifestyle found in Sarasota, Florida has attracted visitors since the early twentieth century. It is not surprising that several professional baseball teams have also been lured to this beautiful destination to participate in their seasonal spring training.

Spring Training in Sarasota, 1924 – 1960, by longtime resident and author Jeff LaHurd, chronicles the coming of professional baseball to Sarasota beginning with the arrival of the New York Giants and eventually, after the Giants’s departure, the coming of the Boston Red Sox. LaHurd revisits the joys and challenges the city faced while playing host to these teams and the larger-than-life personalities that filled the teams’ rosters.

Enjoyable and informative, this book returns the reader to a golden period in not only Sarasota’s history, but baseball’s as well. With tales about baseball greats like Giants fiery manager John J. McGraw and Boston’s legendary slugger Ted Williams, baseball fans young and old will delight in this romp through the early days of the Grapefruit League and baseball in Sarasota.