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Graceville’s Boys Of Summer
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« Graceville’s Boys of Summer »
by Jesse Tullos Spring, 1977 issue of Grassroots South magazine. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For six and a half years, from 1952 through 1958, Graceville, Florida, was known as the smallest town in professional baseball. This is the story of the Graceville Oilers – Graceville’s Boys of Summer The small magic of the baseball box score represents happenstance and physical flight exactly translated into figures and history. A box score is more than a capsule archive. It is a precisely etched miniature of the sport itself; for baseball, in spite of its grassy spaciousness and apparent unpredictability, is the most intensely and satisfyingly mathematical of all our outdoor sports. It is a difficult game. It is so demanding that the best teams and the weakest teams can meet on almost even terms, with no assurance about the result of any one game. The surprise, the upset, the total turnabout of expectations and reputations are all part of baseball. In the early 1950’s, major league baseball was still king. The impact of football was being felt on the gate receipts but baseball was still the « Great American Pastime. » Minor leagues flourished throughout the nation as aspiring ballplayers entertained spectators in small ballparks, hoping for the moment when a major league scout would spot their talent and sign them for the big leagues. Many played but few ever made the grade. The barnstorming days of the 30s were gone but the conditions had improved only mildly for the smaller leagues such as the Alabama-Florida League. This league organized in 1936. World War II called a temporary halt to league play in 1942, and the league was forced to disband because of the manpower shortage. It reorganized in 1946, as the Alabama State League, but picked up two Florida teams in 1951. Once again it became known as the Alabama-Florida League. AFL president was C.C. « Mutt » Hodge, a former cow-pasture pitcher who resented any player getting a hit off him during his active playing days. Word was that the next time a brash hitter got up after hitting safely off Hodge, he would be knocked down or brushed back by a furious fast ball. Hodge pitched in the major leagues for the Chicago White Sox the year following the infamous Black Sox scandal, when « Shoeless » Joe Jackson and other players were banned from baseball after it was learned they had thrown the 1919 World Series in return for money from the gamblers. The 1952 season began with teams from Ozark, Dothan, Eufaula, Headland, and Enterprise making up the Alabama entries in the league. The lone Florida club was Panama City. However, like many of the Class D minor league clubs around the nation, things weren’t going well for the circuit. Low gate receipts at the games were threatening to close league play because of the financial losses. In addition, the Enterprise club was floundering around in last place, unable to draw enough fans to make its baseball future secure. The club also was faced with the bleak prospect of finishing the season with only 11 players on the roster. Following a meeting of club officials prior to a July 4 double-header, the Enterprise officials announced that they would be unable to finish the season and would have to withdraw from the league. On July 5, league president Hodge announced that the Enterprise franchise would be awarded to the small Northwest Florida community of Graceville and that the eleven ballplayers remaining on the Enterprise roster would be shifted to the new club. Hodge also announced that each of the other clubs in the league would send one player from its rosters to the new entry. Graceville, Florida, with a population of just over 1,600 persons in 1952, was venturing into the exciting world of professional baseball, tagged with the title as ‘the smallest town in professional baseball. » Graceville sports enthusiasts and businessmen organized a board of directors and elected officers to sponsor the new club. Officers for the team were-R.C. Curry, president; Mike Toole and J.M. Cooper, Jr., first and second vice-presidents, respectively. Members of the board of directors were-J.J. Jones, G.A. Watford, and O.C. Roberts. No one expected the new entry in the AFL to perform miracles. But the local fans knew the club could win with the right support. It appeared their optimism may have led them to take on a perennial loser as the team lost its first five games on the road following the franchise shift. But, on July 11, the club came to Graceville for their first home game and crashed the win column for the first time before their new-found fans as they defeated Headland, 5-1. Nick Berbesia hurled a four-hitter and Art Pacanowski added a pair of homeruns. Nearly a thousand fans poured into the park that night to watch their club perform for the first time in Graceville. They were not disappointed. Unfortunately, the team went on to drop 13 straight games, digging themselves deeper in the league cellar. The team went nearly two weeks before they were given a nickname. On July 18, contests were held to name the new Graceville team and their ball park. Willie Kirkland, of Marianna, Florida, came up with the handle Oilers, and Mrs. Ruby Campbell, of Graceville, dubbed the park, Sportsman Park. Both were awarded a $25 savings bond. A capsule of the 1952 season shows that the team went through three managers-Ed Mitchell, Carl Walker, and Jim Boehmer-en route to a last place finish in the league with a record of 33 wins and 80 losses. The only local talent on the squad that year was Wilmer « Smiley » Fowler, a coach at Graceville High School, who served as a utility man at first base and in the outfield. Although he saw only limited action, Fowler ended the season with a .300-plus batting average. Boehmer, who finished the year as club manager, made the league all-star team along with teammates Billy Meyers, Jim Stagno, Jack Weeks, and Berbesia. Stagno led the club in hitting with an average of .326, and Berbesia led the pitchers with a 12 and 11 won-loss record. An air of optimism preceded the 1953 season. The Oilers had a new manager, Holt « Cat » Milner, and several promising ballplayers. Milner brought hopes of a winning season with him when he signed on as Oiler skipper. The veteran manager had failed only twice in over 20 years of managing to make post-season playoff games. The league structure had shifted some over the winter months with Ozark and Headland dropping out of the circuit. The Alabama cities of Andalusia and Opp combined to sponsor one team and Ft. Walton Beach, Florida, stepped in to fill the other void. On Milner’s team that year were hard-hitting Pacanowski, Weeks, Berbesia, Bob Odenheimer, and Robert Harris. They were expected to carry the team. Harris, a southpaw, won nine games while losing five in 1952. He was regarded as one of the best pitchers in the league during spring training. Weeks won only six games and lost 19 the previous season but he was expected to have a good year in 1953. All Sunday games of the Oilers were played in nearby Bonifay, Florida, during the 1953 season. Max Moseley, sports editor for the Montgomery Advertiser, wrote in 1953, « After viewing the layout, the way the players are kept, trained and fed, and also the baseball park, we are convinced that this little town (Graceville) is the most spirited baseball town that we have ever seen. » The Oilers opened the 1953 season at home as 650 fans braved chilly weather to watch Odenheimer steal home in the bottom of the tenth inning to make Milner’s debut a winning one as the Oilers trimmed the Andalusia-Opp team, 6-5. Berbesia started the game for Graceville but gave way to reliever Wayne Berg in the fifth inning to give Berg credit for the win. With the acquisition of Chuck Quimby, a hard-hitting first sacker who began the season with Ft. Walton Beach, the Oilers stayed in the thick of the pennant race throughout the season. They ended up in second place. In a game against his old teammates, Ft. Walton Beach, Quimby rapped three homers. On the league all-star team that year, which pitted the top players on the Alabama clubs against the stars from the Florida teams, were six Oilers. Chuck Herkert, Frank Hartman, Gary Philpot, Quimby, Berg, and Weeks made the squad. The Alabama stars won the annual game, 8-6. But Oiler players represented themselves well; Philpot and Heckert collected two hits each in the game and Quimby blasted a homerun. By virtue of their first division finish, the Oilers were eligible for their first post-season playoff ever. Milner had lived up to his reputation. In the opening game against Andalusia-Opp, Heckert walked five consecutive times from his lead-off spot to set a new league record. The Oilers did away with the Arrows and met Dothan for the play-off championship. In the first game of the championship series, 1,824 fans trekked out to Sportsman Park to watch the game. The population of Graceville was 1,642 which meant that more people watched that game than there were living in the entire city. The Oilers came through with a narrow 5-4 victory but Dothan prevailed in the following games and took the championship. A humorous note to the season came during an exhibition game played to help defer hospital costs for two AFL umpires who had been injured in an automobile accident earlier in the season. The game pitted the ‘Ugliest’ players in the loop against those whom the fans considered to be the ‘Most Handsome.’ The Oilers placed seven players on the Ugly Team. They were-Quimby, Odenheimer, Weeks, Chuck Adair, Jocquin Toyo, and Gene Pouncy. Milner was selected as the Ugliest manager in the league and named to captain the team. The only two Oilers to make the Most Handsome squad were Philpot and Berg. Pennant fever was high as the 1954 season approached. Graceville was picked to be one of the leading contenders for the league title during the pre-season polls. Eufaula had dropped out of the league during the winter and Crestview, Florida, took over that team. Milner returned to the Oiler helm and brought with him a rookie, but nonetheless promising, mound staff, which consisted of Bud McLaney, Marion Fincher, Travis Barnard, John Jones, George Rogers, and Don LeBlanc. Toyo, Odenheimer, and Berbesia were the only veterans on the team. However, Milner’s hopes of bringing the league flag to Graceville were dashed early when the rookies failed to come through at the start of the 1954 campaign. By the first week in June, the club had slipped into the cellar and a dejected Milner resigned his position as manager. A Dothan native, Marcus Davis, was named to replace the veteran manager. The first night under their new mentor, the Oilers gave Spencer « Onion » Davis, ace southpaw of the Dothan Rebels, his first defeat of the year. The Dothan hurler had won 12 straight games going into the Marcus Davis debut and ended the season with a remarkable 23-4 won-loss record. The Oilers gave notice that night that they were coming alive. Slowly, Graceville came out of the cellar like a boxer limping back from his corner to start another battering, bruising round. The Oilers reeled, staggered and lurched, but their seams held and they surged on. Crestview was the first to be overtaken by the newfound Graceville squad; then Panama City began to falter. Near the close of the season, the Oilers took position in the first division and held fast. They found themselves in fourth place when the year ended and had made the playoffs for the second consecutive season. The town was in a frenzy. Graceville’s drive to the first division was miraculous. Each game turned out its stars but the real hero on the team was manager Davis. His role in the final days of the season was nothing less than spectacular. As a pitcher, his won-loss record was far from impressive. But his credentials lay in his driving spirit. He led the young ballplayers to strive for that extra step-to show the league that they were capable of being winners- and to repay the fans who never quit supporting the team, even when they were losing. But Davis, as spectacular as he was during the final stretch, was not through. Graceville, by virtue of a fourth place spot in the final standing, won the right to meet second-place finisher, Andalusia-Opp. The Oilers fell behind the Indians two-games-to-one at the start of the series. But Graceville came back to defeat the Indians in six games. Davis captured two of those wins. Berbesia and Fincher picked up the other two victories. The Oilers met Dothan in the championship series. The fever that Davis had burning when he took over the reins as manager continued as his ball club polished off the Rebels to win the championship. Davis kept his playoff supremacy intact against Dothan by winning two more games. Fincher and Dick Wright posted the other two wins for the new league champs. Al Rivenbark was the leading hitter on the team that year and finished fifth in the league with a .351 batting averaqe. He led the league in triples with 14. Fleet Humberto Lopez led the loop in stolen bases with 71 and Van Tarlton batted .315. Berbesia led the pitching staff with a 12-2 won-loss record. Fincher finished at 13-6, and Barnard showed a fine 11-6 record. But the big story in 1954 was the iron-man performance of Marcus Davis. Five Oilers made the league’s east all-star team in 1954. They were-Bobby Sherrer, Bob Davidson, Tarlton, Lopez, and Fincher. Although the east team lost to the west stars in a 36-hit slugfest, 15-14, the Oilers represented themselves well. Tarlton, Graceville’s stubby third sacker, slugged a homer and a triple, and drove in three runs. Sherrer and Davidson each contributed two hits in a losing effort. The 1955 season was almost over before it began. Several drastic changes forced the league situation into a state of chaos. Andalusia-Opp pulled out of the league and Hodge was fired as loop president. Sam Smith, of Dothan, was elected to replace the man who brought Graceville into the league. Pensacola joined the circuit, replacing the Andalusia-Opp franchise. But then Crestview announced that they planned to drop out if finances could not be raised to meet their obligations. League officials pulled Crestview back into the fold, but then, because of inadequate playing facilities, Pensacola was forced to withdraw. Practically every town and community in Northwest Florida and Southeast Alabama was considered as the sixth member of the league. Officials even went as far as Selma in search of a team, but all the towns turned down the invitation to join the circuit. Finally, Donalsonville, Georgia, accepted and the 1955 season was set. Smith has his baptism of fire and came through with flying colors. The league was intact. At least for the time being. From the squad that performed miracles in 1954, only seven members returned for the 1955 season. They were-Rivenbark, Lopez, Davis, Wright, Fincher, Bob Camp, and Johnny Horn. While these seven were supposed to provide a nucleus for the 1955 squad, Davis had other problems. For example, his shortstop, Victor « Chico » Valdez, and his second baseman, Roberto Mayorquin, were both from Cuba. Neither could speak nor understand English. However, Doug Bradford, writing in his sports column for the Dothan Eagle prior to the season’s openers, commented: « Davis, who performed nothing less than miracles, plus winning the post-season playoffs last season, will have the Oilers in contention all the way. That’s as sure as opening day rolling around. » |
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Lane Harris did some photographic work for Grassroots South magazine in the 1970’s.
The magazine has long since gone out of business, but Lane managed to preserve a wonderful article by Jesse Tullos about the Graceville Oilers. Thanks to Mr. Tullos, where ever you are. |