When did MLB & college teams start playing in Spring Training?

[Mattingly]

Since it's regularly done now, when did this begin? Was there any MLB or college team that was credited with having this being an ST staple?

Also, have any other types of teams, such as international, MiLB, etc, played against MLB teams in spring?

Thanks.

[stejay]

1943? Is that correct?

[Brian McKenna]

ML teams were playing college teams back in the 19th century. This was also extremely frequent up until the teams decided to pool themselves in Florida and Arizona well into the 20th century. They played minor league clubs in this fashion as well.

The Toyko Giants took spring training at Vero Beach in 1961, '67, '71, '75 and '81.

Also from mlb.com:

The Samsung Lions professional baseball team from Taegu, Korea trained at Dodgertown in 1985, 1992, 1993, 1996 and 1997. In addition to the Lions' five visits, the Tokyo Giants trained in Vero Beach in 1961, 1967, 1971, 1975 and 1981. The Chunichi Dragons from Nagoya, Japan trained at Dodgertown in 1988. The Sinon Bulls became the first Taiwanese team to train at Dodgertown when they began a week of workouts in February 1999.

[Mattingly]

Thanks, Brian. Which are some of the colleges that played against MLB teams? Did most MLB teams play against college teams back in the 19th century?

Interestnig about the Tokyo Giants having ST in Florida. Any particular reasonf or this?

Also, if you have a link to the mlb.com article you'd quoted, please do post.

Many thanks.