Alabama-Florida League – 1955 Season Page

The sixteenth AFL season saw the migration of another
team out of Alabama. The Andalusia / Opp Arrows moved to the
small south Georgia town of Donalsonville, leaving only Dothan
in the state of Alabama. The league, which from 1946 through
1950 was named the Alabama State League to reflect the location
of all it’s franchises, now was concentrated in the Florida panhandle.
More disturbing was that the trend of moderate size towns losing
their franchises to towns with very small populations continued.
Certainly, a league struggling with stability didn’t need it’s
franchises locating in towns like Crestview, Donalsonville, Graceville,
(and Headland and Geneva before 1955) while losing ownerships
in Andalusia, Troy, Tallahassee, and Brewton.
The newness of having a team meant that Donalsonville was able
to draw a reasonable 24,196 for the year. Graceville, with less
than 2000 citizens, managed to draw 27,876. Television was still
fairly new, and the recreational choice of many small town folks
was still attending the local game. Graceville locals enjoyed
their Oilers and outdrew many bigger towns. It wasn’t uncommon
for Graceville fans to make the 36 mile trip up to Dothan and
support the Oilers on the road.
The Dothan franchise changed their name again, this time to the
Cardinals to reflect their continuing relationship with the St.
Louis farm system. Chase Riddle, one of the greatest players
in league history, continued to do it all, managing the team,
batting .316, with 19 homers and 23 stolen bases, and making
11 pitching appearances, compiling a 3.00 ERA. Crestview pitcher
Jeff Wadkins finished his short career with a 20 win season,
the only 20-game winner in the league. The pitching highlight
of the season was Hank Hemmerly’s, 20-strikeout performance against
Graceville Oilers, setting the league record. The best hitter
of the year was the powerful Neb Wilson, who batted .403, with
32 homers and 108 RBIs. Wilson, the Crestview manager, while
tying the former league record for homers set by Forrest Austin,
came in second in the homer race to Donalsonville slugger Charlie
Grant, who set the new record with 37 round-trippers. At the
mid-season mark, the pennant race was basically between the Fort
Walton Beach Jets and the Panama City Fliers. The
Jets won the right to host the all star game, but the Fliers
made a steady run for the title and won the pennant. The season
winning Fliers also took the championship playoffs, dispatching
the Crestview Braves in four games. The Fliers were fairly weak
in pitching, but had some big bats lead by catcher Jack Feller
(.329), Bill Brightwell (.326) and Bob Johnson (.316). The Jets
had a good hitter in right fielder Tom Swanson (.330) and decent
hurlers in Hank Hemmerly and a colorful right hander by the name
of « Dizzy » Dean Higgenbottom. There were an incredible
4 no-hitters during the season. The first was on May 17th when
Bill O’Neil of Panama City blanked Graceville, 9-0. On July 7th,
Jeff Wadkins of Crestview beat Dothan, 2-0. Then on July 28th,
Hugh Coy and Clyde Thompson of Dothan combined for an unusual
no-hit loss, losing to Crestview, 4 to 5. The final no-no of
the season came on August 8th when Marcus Davis of Graceville
shut down down Dothan, 4-0.

For the first time in the league’s history, only
one team called Alabama home: The Dothan Cardinals. The Donalsonville
Seminoles were the second Georgia team to play in the AFL.

ELSEWHERE IN 1955