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AFL Emails from
Fans & Historians |
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John Beasley : Thanks for the web pages on the old ALA-FLA league. It was the year 1951 (I graduated
from high school) in Columbia, AL (16 miles from Headland, AL) I went to many of the Dixie Runner games, mainly to see my good friend Al Rivenbark play. Jack Clifton was their ace pitcher. I was there the night that Ottis Johnson was beaned. Jack lives in Blakely, GA , where he resided for the last 52 years. He is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. He came to Blakely to play baseball in the Flint River League (not classified but I would say it was close to Class B). Jack had a brother who pitched (all we knew was Bo Clifton). Some of the players in the FRL were the Lary brothers (Cuthbert), Billy Currie (who later pitched for the Atlanta Crackers), Joe Ed Kirkland (who also pitched for the Crackers). Donalsonville had Pop Larsen, who had played in the Majors. Bainbridge, Georgia had a team and the little town of Leary, Georgia also fielded a team. This league was in operation from 1946 to 1950 (don’t hold me to those specific dates). My brother-in-law, Sam Peler Williams played for Ozark and Dothan in 1951-1952. His groomsmen when he married my sister were players off those clubs in the AFL, Chase Riddle, Spencer (Onion) Davis, and Bill Farrar. P.S. The picture of Jack Clifton (in the « Who Was Jack CLifton? article) is definitely Jack. As stated earlier, Jack Clifton is still living, Al Rivenbark is not. David Rivenbark, Al’s brother, and I are leaving for Kissimmee to catch Spring Training. Ottis Johnson’s son also is a friend of mine. He was born shortly after Ottis’s death. He and I swap bird dog stories when we meet. . |
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Brian Love: From 1983-1986, I was a sports writer in Dothan. During that time, I heard many interesting
stories of the Alabama-Florida League. I met several people who had played for various teams. I knew several people that remembered not only the Dothan team, but also Headland and some of he other teams. I wrote a story about the only player to die in the league’s history (Ottis Johnson). Everyone I talked with said that he froze on a brush-back pitch. No one was upset about it. My favorite story came from Chase Riddle who was the head coach for Troy State at the time. He was a player-manager during his years in the league . Someone wrote a book on the league (The Last Rebel Yell) in the mid-1980s, and it had a story about him. The story in the book did not make sense, so I asked him about it. There was a player who would look back at the catcher to try to steal the signs. One time when Riddle was catching, the sign-stealer looked back and Chase was giving him the finger. Riddle said to him, « Do you know what this one means? » |
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Jim Brantley: I live in Fort Myers Florida and am a huge baseball fan. It turns out that my barber
played in the minor league leagues as a pitcher in the 1950’s. He is a great guy to spend a little time with during baseball season as he has taught me much about the game and is a wealth of stories. His name is Ken Fentem and I found a picure of him on your web site with a group of other players from the 1957 Panama City team. |
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Ed Mussler: I came across your page during an Internet search I was doing on Robert « Byrd » Whigham.
Byrd played for the Graceville Oilers in 1956 and I believe in 1957. I am writing a book on the the 1966 Melbourne (FL) High School championship football team, and Byrd was Melbourne High’s head coach. Melbourne High had mediocre teams before Byrd arrived in Melbourne in 1965. He led Melbourne High to the championship game in 1965, but his club was beat by a much larger Miami High School squad (in the Orange Bowl). The next year, Byrd’s Melbourne High team rolled to the title game and easily defeated Fort Lauderdale. Byrd left Melbourne High for Auburn to take a position as the Tigers’ recruiting coordinator. Byrd came to Melbourne High via Wildwood (FL) High School where he led the small North Central Florida team to a state football title in 1964. He was Florida’s High School Coach of the Year in 1964 and 1966. Byrd is retired and lives in his hometown of Louisville, AL. I am in touch with him quite often and he has on several occasions mentioned his time with the Graceville Oilers. I was a newspaper writer for the Dothan Eagle during the early to mid 1990s. My editorial editor (Doug Bradford) covered the Dothan AFL team when he was the sports editor for the Eagle. According to Mr. Bradford, the location where the Dothan team played still stands. In fact (if Mr. Bradford is correct) I used to play baseball and softball at the stadium where the old Dothan AFL called home. I also graduated from Troy State University and I covered Troy State’s baseball team for the university’s newspaper. I remember doing countless interviews with Chase Riddle. I remember he was a very knowledgeable baseball man, who always had time to give me a good interview. |
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Dan Taylor: It seems hard to believe that Harry Clifton didn’t play somewhere in ’52. Anyone
that could hit that well and pitch decently should have at least made the Piedmont League, maybe the Fla-International league or some other Class B team. After all, this fella might have made the majors had not World War II intervened. Equally as puzzling as the beaning is why a guy of this talent was allowed to seep thru the cracks of organized baseball. Like Bill Herring, he could have had a fair amount of talent with not much ambition(the big fish in the little pond). His playing record seems to bear that out.You would think any hitter that hit .370 even in a Class D league would merit a look see from say, a Southern League team or any of the independents in the PCL. Clifton’s record however, is solid Class D all the way. A friend of mine who played in the Carolina League in 51 told me it wasn’t as easy to move up as it is now. He told me there were lots of guys with outstanding records allowed to languish year after year. An ex high school coaching friend who was in the Dodger chain in the late 40’s told me he had to hit .315, then .330 in Class D to get the right to move to Greenville in class B. One other thing you might find interesting: In the National Agreement, there was provision for class E minor league baseball, yet only one league ever went class E. So far, have not been about to find what was so heinous about E ball that made all the leagues start at D or better. In theory, they probably figured no decent player would play under a salary limit that low I guess. One last story that you can appreciate. Seems that when tiny Snow Hill( they made Headland look like a metropolis) was in the Coastal Plain League before World War II, one year they had for a manager, one « Mule » Shirley, who played 1st with Senators in early ’20’s. Mule liked booze a LOT. Anyway, one nite (in ’37 I think) those pink elephants and purple bats chased him down the main street of Snow Hill NAKED! My public speaking professor, who wrote for many years for the Kinston Free Press, told me that one. Later, Peahead Walker managed there too. |
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Craig Lammers (Ohio State League Web Site): Thought visitors to your site might enjoy a little
background information on the AFL’s all star first baseman for 1937, Charlie Cupp. A Bellevue, Ohio native, Cupp starred at the University of Toledo. Baseball was his main emphasis, but he also played some basketball in college. As his final college season was beginning, the Toledo Mud Hens (A Detroit farm team) were negotiating for his services with the idea of sending him to Tiffin of the Ohio State League. Since he was a local player, the OSL’s Fostoria Red Birds and their parent St. Louis Cardinals also wanted to sign him. The Cardinals finally did sign Cupp, but since their local Fostoria farm was struggling through a horrible season, it was thought best to send Cupp to the Union Springs club of the Alabama Florida League. Cupp finally played in the Ohio State League, but it was in 1942, when the league was a semipro operation due to the war. That season, Cupp played with the Fremont Green Sox. I also ran across some information about AFL manager Harold « Hap » Bohl. This item appeared in the Findlay (Ohio) Republican Courier in late March or early April of 1937. « The new manager of the Fremont Reds was described in 1934 as the best third baseman ever seen in the Western Association. He is Hap Bohl and goes to Fremont with five years experience. In 1936 he managed Union Springs of the Alabama-Florida loop , played third base and batted .376. In 1935 he managed Martinsville of the Bi-State League, a Cardinal farm, hitting .294 and fielding .949. The 28 year old alumnus of the University of Cincinnati has been playing since 1930. He was a member of the All Star team in the Western League with Denver in 1932 as a utility |
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Windley Tatom: On the 4th of July, 1939, at the age of 2 years and 5 months, I was taken through
the old wooden turnstyleand into the grandstand at the old Fairgrounds Field in Troy, Alabama. As I watched from my Uncle John’s arms, I saw third baseman Bruce « Suzie-Q » Middlebrooks take a hard one-hop ground ball spin, completely around 360 degrees, do a little dance, like he was running in place, and throw the runner out at first. From that moment on, I was a life-long baseball fan. As a pre-teen in the late 40’s, the baseball field of the Class-D Troy team was where I could be found day or night in the summer months. I can close my eyes and still see Bob Benish doing his famous split-stetch to field a throw at first base, or Norman DeWeese hitting two home runs in the same inning in the 1946 All-Star game. It seems like only yesterday when things like the ballpark smells of popcorn, parched peanuts, the wooden grandstands, the dugouts, and the clubhouse full of dirty uniforms waiting to be cleaned were a constant part of my adolescent life. These memories will go with me to my grave. I am sure that the players that played in the Class-D Alabama State League never realized the lasting effect they had on our lives. |
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Tom Davis: I am a native of Langdale, Ala. in the upper Chattahoochee Valley, so I remember
my parents talking about attending Valley Rebels games in the old Georgia-Alabama League. I have spent the last 10 years in Eufaula, where I have had the opportunity to talk to a few former Millers, including the late Blackie Connell. Also, as a graduate of Troy State University, I have watched the career of Coach Chase Riddle with interest. In fact, my years on campus (79-81) were his first as TSU coach. Since moving to Eufaula I have met a gentleman named Jimmy Sparks, who went 11-16 one season for the old Rome Red Sox in the Georgia-Alabama League. He is a good friend of mine and still an active athlete, as he is an avid golfer and senior softball player. He still travels the country playing in an over-70 tournament team that competes on a national level. |
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Gary Hong: Several years ago I did some research on the 1961-62 Pensacola team, as I collect
Washington Senators memorabilia. I located the team’s owner (I believe it was Joe Pannicione) and was able to obtain a ’61 team photo, which you can include in your archives. The only players I’ve been able to contact (from the 62 team) were Lew Abrahams (who also lives in Silver Spring and still has his Pensacola cap), and Don Loun and Ed Brinkman who were in Washington last year for a « Senators Reunion. » Loun lives in northern Virginia. I know that Fred Waters has passed away. I am also looking for non-players who were associated with the team. As you know the 1961-62 Pensacola team was an affiliate of the expansion Senators, but wore uniforms left behind by the original Nats when they moved to Minneapolis. I was able to obtain two of the jerseys from the owner, who for some reason had saved a home pinstripe and road gray shirt. Both were great additions to my Senators collection and were in wonderful shape. The home shirt was worn by Camilo Pascual in 1960 and the road jersey was worn by Earl Battey during the same season. Consequently, I am still trying to locate any one associated with the Pensacola team who might have save one of the jerseys, as that team was the last stop for those uniforms. I have heard that the bulk of them were donated to a semi-pro team, the Pensacola Pelicans, and that « Senators » and the « Mr. Senator » patch were torn off and « Pelicans » was silk-screened across the front. Such a waste! My hope is that there are still some of those shirts STILL around in that Florida city, perhaps in some old truck that has long been forgotten in someone’s basement. Any help you could provide in tracking down anyone (e.g., bat boy, equipment manager) with that club would be greatly appreciated. |
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Jean Carllton: I enjoyed the article you wrote about the old Alabama Florida Baseball League. I
spent a lot of time watching the Graceville Oilers play. My Uncle, Bill Moore, was president of the league at that time and my father would drive Uncle Bill to his meeting. I have several signed baseballs that I acquired during that time also. Your article brought back a lot of fond memories. As a young man Daddy had written the Chipley sports news for the Pensacola paper. It was his dream to be a sports writer, but he grew up during the depression and had to go to work early to help the family. He never lost his love of sports however. As I read your news it brings back wonderful memories of times spent with my dad. Thanks. |