Henderson Central League team

The team began the 1897 Central League season as the Nashville Centennials of Nashville, Tennessee,[1] but suffered financial problems brought on principally by poor attendance.[2][3] They played their final game in Nashville on June 3.[4] The Centennials left town in second place with a 18–14 (.563) record.[5] League president George Simons announced the league's intention to transfer the club to Decatur, Illinois.[6] The league took possession of the team and placed it in the hands of catcher Frank Belt.[4] He would lead the team until it could be permanently established in its new city.[6]

After an off day on June 4,[7] the team played a series each against the Cairo Egyptians and Paducah Little Colonels, where they were still referred to as Nashville.[8][9] Meanwhile, Simons was still trying to place the former Nashville franchise in a new city. Decatur, the intended spot, refused to accept the team and its over $400 debt in unpaid player salaries and forthwith demolished their ballpark.[10] Simons next turned to Springfield, Illinois;[10] Owensboro, Kentucky;[11] and Henderson, Kentucky.[12] The league gave Nashville a five-day window to get together the funds to guarantee finishing the season, but it failed to do so.[11]

Instead, the citizens of Henderson gathered enough money to have the team transferred there.[13] Their first game as the Henderson club was played on June 13 on the road against the Evansville Brewers.[14] They won, 5–4, with the battery of Will Geralds and Belt.[14] A. D. Rogers, owner of the Henderson opera house and president of the city's fair association,[15] was named the new manager.[13] The team's home games were played at the Henderson Fair Grounds.[16] They defeated Evansville, 6–2, in their Henderson home opener on June 22.[17]

On the morning of July 20, the Washington Browns disbanded amid poor attendance and severe debt.[18] Evansville and the Terre Haute Hottentots dropped out of the league later that day.[19] The Central League was finished.[20][21] Henderson played its final league game on July 19 at Terre Haute, a 5–4 loss.[18] At the cessation of play, the team was in second place with a record of 39–31 (.557), one-and-a-half games behind Evansville.[18] They played one final exhibition game against a team from Princeton, Indiana, on July 21, winning 5–0, before disbanding.[22]

Three players also played in at league one game in Major League Baseball during their careers. These player were:

• Theodore Conover[23]
• Pat Dillard[24]
• Charlie Petty[25]

• Statistics from Baseball-Reference
• Statistics from Stats Crew