March 24th, the Troy Messenger received a telegram from H.
L. Dowling stating that Enterprise and Troy were now official
league
members. James Grant, Enterprise’s financial backer, indicated
that $1000 had been raised for team expenses and for building
a grandstand at the local airport grounds.
On April 10th, H. L. Dowling telegrammed Seth Copeland with
the news that Andalusia and Abbeville had made formal application
to the league. Dowling wanted Copeland’s approval of this move
to expand from 6 to 8 teams and Copeland concurred. Happy Campbell,
Troy’s manager, made a trip to Knoxville to try and secure a working
agreement with the Southern League Smokies.
With the Enterprise stadium still under construction, the Barons
started exhibition play in late April. The Barons played games
against Troy Teachers College, Lanett Cotton Mill, and the Bona-Allen
Shoe Company of Buford, Ga. Bona-Allen had a well-known and very
competitive industrial league team that offered better pay than
most professional teams. In 1938, Virgil Trucks was enticed by
teammate Luke Gunnels to jump ship from Andalusia and play a couple
games for Bona-Allen. This short-lived escapade almost got the
young Trucks in a lot of trouble.
Happy Campbell might have seen it coming. After the attempt
to bring Kid Eberfield to Troy, Campbell probably wondered how
much support he had. The answer: not much. On April 20th, Fred
Nall announced that former major leaguer, Ernie « Doc »
Wingard, was given the job of player-manager. Wingard, a former
University of Alabama star, was known as the pitcher who had struck
out Babe Ruth more times than anyone else. He pitched for the
St. Louis Browns until 1928, when he went to Milwaukee in the
American Association. He stayed there until 1935 when he was sent
to Toledo. Through Wingard, the Troy team gained a verbal agreement
with Toledo to develop players.
And finally the league got off the ground.
The first game in Troy Trojan history was played in Panama
City. Troy lost 7-5.
The first standings listing in AFL History.
This is the boxscore from the first home game in Troy history.
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