The vote was called by Ellis Boatner after much discussion
and a majority of the 100+ fans in attendance agreed that pro
baseball would be better than no baseball. Fred Nall, the Secretary-Treasurer
of the Troy club in 1935, was
elected to the same position for the pro club. A committee of
10 fans was appointed to elect a President and to begin the process
of canvassing the local business community to drum up financial
support. The new club was required to come up with the $530 forfeit
fee, payable to the National Association, which guaranteed the
team’s participation
in the new league.
Happy Campbell, manager of the
Troy Dixie Amateur League team and Crimson Tide baseball coach,
agreed to become the manager of Troy’s new pro team. Campbell
said that he’d get the team put together, and he was expecting
to use a large number of players from Troy’s 1935 amateur team.
Troy was now going to be the 5th member of the new league, and
Abbeville and Pensacola were reportedly interested in the 6th
league position. Seth Copeland, Troy’s mayor, begrudgingly
accepted the position of team president after several other nominees
refused. Copeland said that he’d accept
the position « out of civic pride » and also because he
basically was the last guy in line. It was apparent that if Copeland
refused, the whole project would fold and there would be no team
in Troy at all. Copeland appointed many of the men who refused
the presidency as his advisory committee: E. E. Anthony, Ellis
Boatner, P. C. Black, Dr. W. H. Abernathy. S. E. Mary, and Cecil
McSwain. Copeland, Boatner, Black, and Abernathy would attend
the league meeting in Dothan the following Sunday and post the
$530 fee for the club.
Evidently, Kid Eberfield, legendary infielder from the deadball
days of the major leagues, offered his services to the new Troy
club as manager. Troy was probably interested, even though Happy
Campbell was already slated for the position. Eberfield was a
fairly well known former major-leaguer and had some success managing
in the minors. More than likely, the pay offered Kid was too low
and he refused the offer.
The Dothan league meeting, with representatives from the 5
league ballclubs, elected George Grant as president of the new
circuit. Grant had been serving in that capacity unofficially
since the beginning of league talks. Troy posted the $530 and
were officially members of the league. A committee was formed
to seek out potential ownership in Enterprise, Pensacola, and
Eufaula. Abbeville was not mentioned as a potential franchise,
although there was still some organized interest in placing a
team there. The league agreed to set up a 100-game split-season
schedule, to be drawn up on April 12th, and they also set opening
day as May 11th (which worked fairly for Troy) and the final day
as August 21st. Happy Campbell, evidently still in charge despite
the Eberfield rumors, agreed to have a team in town and ready
by May 10th.
Enterprise would be backed financially by James Grant of Dothan,
and managed by Clarence « Shovel » Hodge, who was an Enterprise
resident at the time. The league would be considered complete
with the addition of a sixth club, and Enterprise made sense geographically,
being only 32 miles from Dothan and close to all the other cities
in the league. Union Springs and Panama City would mark the extreme
north and south league outposts, so even with the limited roads
of the time no overnight stays would be necessary for visiting
teams. With the potential addition of Enterprise to the league
there was talk of adding more games to the schedule. In Union
Springs, repairs had begun on the somewhat dilapidated local ballpark.
The ownership there had begun the process of finding and signing
players.
[Back To The
Table Of Contents]