Alabama Florida League Team Photos – 1999 Reunion

Bill Screws          1952
Eufaula
Warren Ward         
1947 Andalusia, 1947-48 Troy
Eacie Welch         
1951 Enterprise
Ray Wilson          
1953-54 Dothan

Neal Cobb came from Lynn Haven, Fla., and brought his �Silver Bat of
Glory,� the one he was given in 1954 when he had the highest batting average in
the minor league. Others brought team pictures, newspaper clippings and game
schedules. Some, like Scotty Burns from Brewton and Travis Martin from Andalusia, just came with their memories. One by one they stepped up to the microphone
during the reunion of Class D professional baseball players held Wednesday
at Oakwood Lodge. Each told his name, who he played for and the years he played.
Their teams had names like the Andalusia Arrows, Dothan Eagles, Brewton Millers
and Enterprise Boll weevils. Several players remembered records they held,
things like the number of strikeouts during a season and their batting averages.
Some also had stories to tell, like one player who remembered when his brother,
who was playing in the outfield, got hit on top of the head with a baseball.
The theme woven through all the stories was a love for the game of baseball.
« I�m here today because I love baseball,� Chase Riddle of Troy said as he addressed
the group. Then he took a journey back to another time as he recalled his
days playing baseball. �One night I got a free ride from home plate to the bleachers,�
he said. �Billy Brightwell came charging toward home and I thought I could
stop him. I think I ended up about in the first three rows of the bleachers.�
While it has been years since these men played baseball, most of them were on teams in the ’40s and ’50s, they still follow the game and have watched
with interest the changes it has gone through. The money the players make was
one change that was discussed at length. �What would you be worth today?� Danny
Long of Loxley said to Cobb. �Would you have an agent?� Cobb just laughed because
he remembered the days when $125 or $165 a month was what he and his teammates
were paid. Scott Burns, who was sheriff in Escambua County for 24 years,
got married while he was playing Class D baseball. �They took up a collection
for us at the ballpark after we got married,� he said. �It was a lot of money,
more than I made playing ball.� Even the ones who were observes rather than players
were drawn to the reunion and had thoughts about the changes in baseball.
�Baseball is like newspapers, it has completely changed,� said Arlin Byrd, who
worked at the Covington News in 1947 as a lineotype operator and sports editor.
�I came (to the reunion) because I knew a lot of these guys,� he said. �I knew
about the team in Greenville because I worked at The Greenville Advocate, and I was in
Andalusia for a year and wrote about that team.� Byrd, who at 85 was the oldest
person at the reunion, said the players he wrote about back then were remarkable.
�If these ballplayers came along today, they�d be worth millions of dollars,�
he said. At lunch, the stories continued and the young men, who still live inside
these men who now sport gray hair, came to life. �This is the man who about
ended my career,� said Keltys Powell, pointing to Bobby Hill. �He was playing catcher, and
I was playing first. �He was going to pick a man off, and he picked me. Hit me
on the knee. I don�t know who picked my cap up. �Remember that Bobby?� Hill shook
his head and laughed. �Virgil ‘Fire’ Trucks set the world strike-out record
right here in Andalusia,� said Danny Long. �He struck out 418 batters, the scorekeeper gave Trucks the scorebook when he broke the record. �It�s
in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.� And so it continued until the last man left
for home, friends together again recalling games and players, some who are
no longer alive. �Remember the wool uniforms,� Chase Riddle said. �You know the
owners didn�t get them cleaned too often � I guess they couldn�t afford to. �After
a while, they�d (the uniforms) stand up in the locker. You didn�t even have
to worry about hanging them up.� The players, who were all members of teams in the Alabama State League and Alabama-Florida League,
said they�d like to make the reunion an annual event. Marvin Walker, who was business
manager for the Andalusia Arrows and organized the reunion, said they may
try to get everyone together again next year. What draws these players together
after all of these years? Chase Riddle had the perfect answer. �You didn�t
have to be in the big leagues,� he said. �The world don�t have to remember you
if you remember yourself and all those good times.�