69 Years Ago In TIME

Each year brings its familiar rites and beloved rituals--like the end of spring training and the first pitch of the new BASEBALL season, which begins next week. Back in 1937, however, there was one difference: no steroid scandals.

In 1886, famed "Cap" Anson created a furor by taking his Chicago baseball team (including Evangelist Billy Sunday) to Hot Springs, Ark., to get ready for the opening of the season. Since then, spring training has been a baseball institution. Main purpose of spring training is not to recondition baseballers but to recondition baseball addicts, by reminding them that a new season is about to start, reviving their interest in the game. By last week, baseball addicts had had six weeks of training-camp news to assure them that the 1937 major-league season would start in Boston (Bees v. Phillies) and Washington (Senators v. Athletics) April 19 ... while baseball experts, governed by ancient tradition, predicted how the teams would stand when the 1937 season ends Oct. 3. --TIME, April 19, 1937

Read the entire article at time.com/years