The 1941 Baseball Players Golf Tournament was the last major event to be played on the Jungle golf course. Many famous ballplayers participated, leaving their footprints all across the Azalea neighborhood.
These players were nationally known celebrity athletes ‒ Merv Shea, Lloyd Brown, Wes Farrell, Peewee Reese, Jack Russell, Leo Durocher, Paul Derringer, Paul "Big Poison" Waner, Joe "Ducky" Medwick, George Selkirk, Johnny Murphy, Schoolboy Rowe, Tommy Bridges, Burt Shotten, Gerald Walker, Ted McGrew, Roger Peckinpaugh, Whitey Witt, Rick Ferrell, Jimmie Foxx, Roy Cullenbine, Gee Walker, Al Simmons, Jack Gordon, Myril Hoag, Heinie Manush, Billy Sullivan, Doc Painter, Roy Spencer, Milt Shoffner and others.
The tournament received national press attention and a Universal World of Sports Newsreel segment was played in theaters across America. Nationally syndicated columnist Grantland Rice knew the golf course well and devoted an entire column to the tournament, concluding "the ball players' golf show in St. Petersburg can give you more action than most fights or football games. And it can also give you a surprising amount of high-class golf."
Newsreel description:
Mervin Shea of the Detroit Tigers wins a golf match and holds a trophy in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Location: Saint Petersburg Florida ...
Date: 1941, February 11
Duration: 1 min 2 sec
Sound: NO SOUND
Clip: 65675033961
A golf match between players of baseball teams the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Athletics in St. Petersburg, Florida. People watch the match. The match starts and the players take their first shots. A coach teaches a player how to play. Mervin Shea of the Tigers wins the match and stands with a trophy. Lloyd Brown of Philadelphia is the runner-up.
Colorized frames from the newsreel:
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| On the first green, looking toward the Jungle Hotel |
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| Comic relief: a coach teaches a player how to play. On the practice green, Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx and Al Lang ham it up for the national newsreel audience. |
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| Merv Shea wins the trophy. |
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| Professional Baseball Players' National Golf Championship Trophy. |
In February 1936, the first annual Baseball Players Golf Tournament was held at the Bobby Jones Golf Club in Sarasota. Babe Ruth, in his first year of retirement, was one of the entrants, listing his occupation as "unemployed." He finished in sixth place.
Professional Baseball Players Golf Tournament:
1936 - Bobby Jones Golf Club, Sarasota
- Champion: Wes Farrell; Second place tie: Hudlin, Cochrane, Braxton.
1937 - Bobby Jones Golf Club, Sarasota
- Champion: Sammy Byrd; Second place tie: Wes Farrell, Paul Derringer.
1938 - Bobby Jones Golf Club, Sarasota
- Champion: Paul Waner; Second place: Jack Russell.
1939 - Lakeland
- Champion: Wes Ferrell; Second place: Paul Waner.
1940 - Palma Ceia, Tampa
- Champion: Wes Ferrell; Second place: Jack Russell.
1941 - Jungle Country Club, St. Petersburg
- Champion: Merv Shea; Second place: Lloyd Brown.
1942 - Miami Country Club, Miami
- Champion: Ray Lenahan; Second place: Merv Shea.
1943 - no teams training in Florida, the tournament became a war casualty.
Participants:
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| Merv Shea baseball card on eBay |
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| Merv Shea 1923 Sacramento Senators (minor league) card on eBay |
