This past summer, I was introduced to an online archive of old newspapers and special photo collections through a connection at Providence College. These old photographs and stories were just amazing to read. I was predominantly searching articles about baseball and Quonset Point Naval Air Station. As I am now residing in Virginia, I thought it would be interesting to find a similar online source for baseball history here in Hampton Roads. And with just a brief amount of research so far, I have found a really good one – the online collections via the Norfolk Public Library.
The Sargeant Memorial Collection of online archives (click the blue link to be redirected there) is just what I was looking for. Archives of old city maps, photographs of days past, newspaper articles, and so much more. The first paragraph, in part, reads “The Sargeant Memorial Collection is the region’s premier local history and genealogy library. The photographs and other materials in this database are intended to help document the history and cultural heritage of Norfolk, the surrounding Hampton Roads region, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and northeastern North Carolina.” I put in a search for “baseball” as well as “baseball fields” and “baseball teams” and here are a few choice photos I found:
Quite a few references for the Norfolk Tars, like this one featuring the 1950 Norfolk Tars. See, someone scribbled “1950” to help me out.
Holy cow, here is one featuring Yankee farmhands, Jack Graham and the great Phil Rizzuto. The photograph was taken in 1938, about 3 years before Rizzuto would make his NY Yankee debut.
This shot features Yankee and Red Sox minor leaguers in game action. One in particular, Yogi Berra, is involved in a rundown with a Red Sox runner. The year was 1943, Yogi would not make his HOF MLB debut until 1946.
Here are some photos from a baseball camp run by the Norfolk Tars Baseball Team:
And some photos of crowds at various baseball fields in Norfolk and Portsmouth, VA.
I am just scratching the surface on these incredible archives. Every photo has something to offer about the times, the players, the uniforms, the equipment, the game of baseball “way back when.” I’m so psyched to have found this amazing online reference guide for baseball in Hampton Roads. Here is the link one more time, should you want to digitally leaf through some archives and old newspapers for a story about a friend or relative or perhaps very famous ball player you saw “way back when.”
Norfolk Public Library’s SMC Digital Collections
Please note, all of the photos in this article were snipped from the Sargeant Memorial Collection and if you click on the blue links, you can read much more about the photo, where it was taken, who is in the photo, etc.
The Rhiter 
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