In September 2016, The Baseball Bloggess and her patient, “Sure, I’ll play along” Editor/Husband decided to visit the birthplace of every major league ballplayer born in Virginia.

That was 286 players when we first began this madness in 2016. And, each season brings one, two, three new Virginians to the major leagues. It’s hard to keep up.

We added four additional Negro League players who are in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

(Yes, we could have added even more Negro League players, but we were feeling overwhelmed with all the counting. We may change our mind on this point.)

Some of these players were scoundrels. Some were superstars. One played in 574 consecutive games in the 19th century. Eight played just a single big-league game. Five are in the Baseball Hall of Fame. And, one is buried in a family plot just two miles from our farm.

Those 286 major leaguers, plus the four Hall of Famers who played in the Negro Leagues but never had the chance to play in the bigs, hail from all over the state, some 114 places. Virginia’s largest cities. Small towns that still bustle. Little places that never did.

We aim to find, in no particular order and in our own good, rambling, no-hurry pace, the 114 places that these players called home.

And, just to prove that there is more to life than baseball, we have increased the number of birthplaces to 115, to include Pembroke, Virginia, the “birthplace” of the film Dirty Dancing. Dirty Dancing has nothing to do with baseball. But, seriously, Dirty Dancing!

Come along with us, won’t you? It’ll be fun!

Here’s Where We Are So Far (Listed By County, Independent City, Or Region)…

INTRO: Let’s Go Virginia’ing!

AMHERST

Clay Bryant — The Alabaman From Madison Heights, Virginia

Monroe’s “Terrific & Terrible” Ken Dixon

CAROLINE

Caroline County, Virginia — A Baseball Story in 3 Acts, Act 1: The County

Caroline County, Virginia — Act 2: Clarence “Soup” Campbell

Caroline County, Virginia — Act 3: Lew Beasley & Tony Beasley

FAUQUIER

Walter “Steve” Brodie: Warrenton’s “Duke of Roanoke”

NORTHERN VIRGINIA

Paul Hines, Baseball Player: The Unblurrification, Part 1

Paul Hines:  A Little More To Unspool, Part 2

ORANGE

Marvin Goodwin, “the Gentleman of Gordonsville”

From Harrisonburg To Orange — The Troubling Story Of Baseball’s Douglas Neff

Jim Sullivan — Mine Run & The Christmas Cow

PAGE

Ben Huffman & Floyd Baker. Two Players & Luray.

RAPPAHANNOCK

Ben Huffman & Floyd Baker. Two Players & Luray.

RICHMOND

1884: Richmond Joins The Major Leagues — including Ed Ford, Ed “Mouse” Glenn, Billy Nash, and Jim Powell.  (Plus, a special hat tip to Richmond-born Jackie Bradley, Jr.)

Richmond’s Baseball Kid — “Granny Hamner” (Plus, His Big Brother Garvin Hamner, Too)

ROCKINGHAM

From Harrisonburg To Orange — The Troubling Story Of Baseball’s Douglas Neff

Garland Shifflett — the Pitcher From Elkton