1948 Alabama-Florida League Season

The ninth AFL season saw the
Troy Trojans, like Greenville the year before, dominate the league
from begininng to end.  Greenville hung around most of the
season, but Troy was easily the best team. This was a boom time
for professional baseball.  In the US, only Wyoming and
Vermont  didn’t have professional baseball teams. 
Alabama had 18 teams playing in four leagues:  Birmingham
and Mobile were in the Southern League, Montgomery, Selma, Anniston,
and Gadsden were in the Southeastern League, Opelika, Tallassee,
Alex City, and Valley were in the Alabama-Georgia League, and
the other eight teams were in the Alabama State League. 
Alabama was 8th in the nation for total number of pro teams. 
Even with all these teams in the state, an effort was made to
put a Class D league in Northern Alabama in the off season. 
The Minor League Association denied the application due to a
lack of organization.  There were 58 minor leagues in America
in 1948, and the post-war desire to get back to a normal life
included lots of baseball.    The boom in baseball
caused some staffing problems in many leagues, including the
ASL, where teams struggled to fine decent players from a depleted
pool.  New rules in the league required each team to carry
a minimum of 10 rookies, up four from the previous year. 
Scouts had a tough time finding enough rookies who could play
well enough to fill the team’s roster slots.  Early in the
season, Troy and Greenville set the pace and started to break
away from the other six teams.  Greenville had a big problem
though:  The Pirates were competitive but couldn’t draw
fans.  In May, Troy and Greenville met in Greenville for
a series between the two best teams and the first game drew less
than 300 fans.  May was a restless month for a few teams
with three managers getting the ax in the month:  Joe Beaguez
went to Anniston to pitch, Dolly Lambert quit Enterprise, and
John George was asked to find work elsewhere.  At the mid
season point, it was Troy who won the right to be hosts for the
all star game.  The game itself was supposed to be played 
on July 13th, but rain delayed it until July 19th.  Former
major leaguer, Walt Tauscher, managed the all stars to a 5-4
victory.  The season ended with Troy still on top. 
Troy’s dominance quickly ended in the playoffs as Dothan knocked
them out in the first round.  Dothan then took on the second
best team, Greenville, and beat them too and the Browns won their
second league title.