Hot Springs documentary to air on MLB Network

Hodge Kirby, laughing, reacts to a play from the dugout with fellow stand-ins dressed in 1912's baseball uniforms on Saturday, March 21, 2015 at Lamar Porter Athletic Field in Little Rock.The men performed as ball players for Larry Foley's upcoming film about the history of spring training in Arkansas.
Hodge Kirby, laughing, reacts to a play from the dugout with fellow stand-ins dressed in 1912's baseball uniforms on Saturday, March 21, 2015 at Lamar Porter Athletic Field in Little Rock.The men performed as ball players for Larry Foley's upcoming film about the history of spring training in Arkansas.

— Nearly five years after conceiving an idea to tell the story of professional baseball's roots in Arkansas, Larry Foley's film The First Boys of Spring is set to make its national premiere this weekend.

The film is scheduled to debut on MLB Network on Saturday at 5 p.m. It is also scheduled to air on the network next Sunday, Feb. 21, at 8 a.m.

"I think this is a national story," said Foley, chair of the journalism department at the University of Arkansas. "Unlike what I typically do, go to PBS, I thought I'm going to see if MLB would like this because this is my target audience.

"A few years ago they acquired Ken Burns' Baseball, but they don't really acquire many films. As I talked to them they said, 'If you look at our lineup, we produce almost everything, but we like your show.'"

The film chronicles the history of spring training in Hot Springs, where major league teams traveled to from 1886-1925 and negro league teams continued practicing for about three more decades.

Foley teamed with fellow UA professor Dale Carpenter (editing), UA professor emeritus James Greeson (music) and Jim Borden (videography) on the project. The film is narrated by actor Billy Bob Thornton, a Hot Springs native.

"Pretty early on I gave myself a couple of goals," Foley said. "One was to see if I could get Billy Bob Thornton to narrate and the other was (a national broadcast)."

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From left are Red Sox teammates Bill Carrigan, Jake Stahl, Cy Young and Fred Anderson at Whittington Park in Hot Springs, circa 1909. (Photo: Library of Congress)

Some of baseball's biggest names made their way to the resort city where they believed the hot mineral baths helped prepare them for the upcoming season. Foley said that just less than 50 percent of all players inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame trained in Hot Springs. Among the most notable names were Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb and Cy Young.

"Pitchers and catchers would go to Hot Springs three weeks early because to get the full impact of the mineral baths, you had to take one a day for three weeks," Foley said. "So not only did baseball spring training begin and catch on in Hot Springs, but the tradition of pitchers and catchers going first was born in Hot Springs because of the three-week mineral bath prescription."

Production for the film took Foley and his crew to six states, including historic Fenway Park in Boston. Last March, hundreds gathered in period costumes at Lamar Porter Field in Little Rock for a recreation of a 1912 game between the Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates.

"One of the best professional days of my life," Foley said.

The First Boys of Spring is not the first foray into Arkansas sports documentaries for Foley, whose work has been selected for numerous regional Emmy awards. He also produced 22 Straight!, a film about the University of Arkansas' football championship in the 1960s, and The Greatest Coach - Ever! about longtime Razorbacks track & field coach John McDonnell.

His more acclaimed work includes The Buffalo Flows. Foley said he is drawn to cultural and natural history stories in Arkansas, which made producing a film about his favorite sport in his home state appealing.

"I really am drawn to stories that, for whatever reason, have escaped general knowledge," Foley said. "This was one of those."

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