Fans Get a Grand Slam in August When Babe Ruth World Series And Eighth Hot Springs Baseball Weekend Coincide in Spa City
HOT SPRINGS NATIONAL PARK, Arkansas — Baseball fans get a grand slam homer in August 2025 when the eighth Hot Springs Baseball Weekend and the Babe Ruth World Series coincide in the city known as The Birthplace of Major League Baseball Spring Training.
“Some of the greatest former players in the game and the best of the young players will be in Hot Springs at the same time,” Visit Hot Springs CEO Steve Arrison said. “Fans will get to interact with legends like crowd favorite Johnny Bench and newcomers Ron Guidry, Bret Saberhagen and Steve Garvey and at the same time have the opportunity to watch the best 14-year-old players in the world compete at our great Majestic Park complex, where The Babe himself once played and practiced.”
The Babe Ruth World Series for 14-year-olds will take place August 7 – 16, while Hot Springs Baseball Weekend will bring legends of the game to town August 8 – 9.
“The 2025 Baseball Weekend will feature six great stars: Ron Guidry, Bret Saberhagen, Hall of Famer Johnny Bench, Hall of Famer Goose Gossage, Al Hrabosky and Steve Garvey, who is on the 2024 ballot for induction into the Hall of Fame,” Arrison said. “Guidry, Saberhagen and Garvey will be greeting fans in Hot Springs for the first time and Bench, Gossage and Hrabosky will be back by popular demand. Johnny Bench has become a fan favorite and we are pleased that he’ll be coming back next year.
“The whole Baseball Weekend of baseball fun is free and open to the public, and we expect that 2024’s great turnout will be exceeded.”
Baseball Weekend will be in play right in the middle of the Babe Ruth World Series, when hundreds of the world’s best 14-year-old baseball players will converge on Hot Springs as the city hosts the Babe Ruth League’s World Series for 14-year-olds at the city’s historic Majestic Park baseball complex.
“Our city will host 18 teams from around the United States and some international teams,” Majestic Park General Manager Derek Phillips said. “These young athletes and their support personnel — and lots of their fans — will be in Hot Springs for 10 days of top-level baseball competition August 7 through August 16.
“A Hot Springs host team will be included in the Series, made up of players from our Babe Ruth League teams, so the local fans will have a home team to root for.
“The spotlight will be on our city and our top-level baseball facilities. Having the young athletes play at Majestic Park will be especially meaningful for them since this is the very spot where Babe Ruth trained and played in the early years of the 20th Century. They’ll enjoy playing on Babe Ruth Field and having their photos made with our larger-than-life bronze statue of The Babe, one of only three like it in the world.”
The Baseball Weekend lineup of guest stars will include:
• Ron Guidry, nicknamed "Louisiana Lightning" and "Gator." Guidry pitched 14 seasons for the New York Yankees. He was also the pitching coach of the Yankees from 2006 to 2007. He was a member of World Series-winning Yankees teams in 1977 and 1978, when the Yankees beat the Los Angeles Dodgers. He won the American League Cy Young Award in 1978, winning 25 games and losing only three. He also won five Gold Glove Awards and appeared in four All-Star games. Guidry served as captain of the Yankees beginning in 1986; he retired from baseball in 1989. In 2003, the Yankees retired Guidry's uniform number (49) and dedicated a plaque to him in Monument Park.
• Bret Saberhagen was a right-handed starting pitcher who played for the Kansas City Royals, New York Mets, Colorado Rockies and Boston Red Sox
from 1984 through 1999, and a comeback in 2001. Known for his blazing fastball and pinpoint control, Saberhagen was named a three-time All-Star, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, a Gold Glove Award winner, and the Most Valuable Player of the 1985 World Series, when the Royals beat the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. He led Major League Baseball in wins and earned run average in 1989, and threw a no-hitter in 1991.
• Steve Garvey played first base for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres from 1969 to 1987. He began his major league career with the Dodgers in 1969. He won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1974 and was the National League Championship MVP in 1978. Garvey was also a member of the 1981 World Series-winning Dodgers. Garvey signed with the Padres in December 1982 and remained with the team until 1987, when his playing career ended. In 1984, Garvey was once again named a National League Championship Series MVP; he hit a dramatic walk-off home run to win Game Four of the Championship Series for the Padres. Garvey was a National League All-Star for 10 seasons, with nine selections as starter at first base, a mark that still stands for his position. He holds the NL record for consecutive games played with 1,207. The Padres retired Garvey's No. 6 in 1988. He was placed on the 2024 ballot for induction into the Hall of Fame this fall.
They will be joined by Johnny Bench, Goose Gossage, and Al Hrabosky.
Johnny Bench played his entire career, which lasted from 1967 to 1983, with the Cincinnati Reds, primarily as a catcher. Bench was the leader of the Reds team known as the Big Red Machine that dominated the National League in the mid-1970s, winning six division titles, four National League pennants and two World Series championships. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1989.
Al Hrabosky is now known as Mister Baseball Weekend after attending every one of the annual celebrations except last year’s, when he was absent due to family obligations.
He is one of the St. Louis Cardinals’ most beloved players — the Mad Hungarian relief pitcher.
“Al has been a featured guest at every one of our Baseball Weekends except 2023,” Arrison said. “The hundreds of fans who have attended his presentations have loved his tales of Major League Baseball.” He is part of the Cardinals television team and began working as a commentator on telecasts for the team in 1985.
Rich “Goose” Gossage was one of the top relief pitchers throughout the 1970s and ‘80s. A rookie relief pitcher with the White Sox in 1972, Gossage established himself as a premier closer by the mid-1970s. After spending 1976 as a starting pitcher, he was traded to the Pirates, where he began a 12-year streak of double-figure save totals.
Free agency followed his one season in Pittsburgh and Gossage signed a contract with the Yankees in November 1977. His six years as the New York closer included four All-Star teams, 150 saves and a 2.10 ERA. He was also on the mound to finish the 1978 American League East one-game playoff against the Red Sox. When Gossage, a nine-time All-Star, retired after the 1994 season he had built up quite a resume, finishing a 22-year big league career with nine different big league clubs. His lifetime statistics included a 124-107 record, 3.01 ERA, 1,002 games, 310 saves, 1,809.1 innings pitched and 1,502 strikeouts.
“I gave them their money’s worth,” Gossage said. Gossage was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2008.
For more information call Steve Arrison at 501-321-2027.