THE LAST BALL GAME

Bill Steinecke

The 1962 Dublin Braves

Strike three! Game over! Braves win! But there was no joy in Dublin on that hot August evening. The Dublin Braves, a Class “D” farm club of the Milwaukee Braves, defeated the Moultrie Colt .22s to end the 1962 season of the Georgia Florida League, a league doomed to extinction by the forthcoming realignment of minor league baseball. The Braves, who finished in second place in a four-team league, actually had a good year, one which was stymied at mid season by the promotion of the their better players. Rumors of the impending fate of the Braves had been flying since the 4th of July. Somehow, everyone knew that this game on August 24, 1962, would be the last ball game ever to be played at Lovett Park on Kellam Road at Telfair Street.

Herschel Lovett, newspaper owner, politician, and businessman, loved baseball. In 1949, mostly at his own expense, Lovett brought a minor league team, the Green Sox, as Dublin’s entry in the Georgia State League - a league which survived until 1956. Baseball returned to town in 1958, when the Dublin Orioles, led by Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver, along with phenoms Steve Barber and Dave Nicholson, fielded one of Dublin’s best teams ever. After a three year respite, the Dublin Braves, along with the Brunswick Cardinals, the Moultrie Colt .22s, and the Thomasville Tigers, formed the Georgia-Florida League - a misleading name, since there were no Florida teams in the league, which had hoped to have eight teams to begin play.

The Dublin Braves debuted on April 25, 1962 with a 13-6 road victory over Brunswick. Managing the Braves was the venerable Bill Steinecke, a long time baseball veteran with decades of experience as a minor league manager and scout, primarily in the Milwaukee Braves system. Steinecke made it to the big show in 1931 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Playing in only four games, Steinecke struck out once and got not a solitary hit in his four at bats, tying the unenviable record of having the lowest batting average in major league history. But whatever Steinecke may have lacked as a hitter in 1931, he more than made up as a teacher of baseball skills.

The home opener on April 27th was the third consecutive win. Mayor James Townsend threw out the first pitch in front of a crowd of 1021 fans, which would turn out to be five percent of the year’s total attendance. The Braves looked like they couldn’t be headed in the first twenty games of the season, firmly holding first place by going 14 and 7 and leading the league with a .700 winning percentage - a fine mark in any league, anywhere.

From the very first game of the season, it was apparent that the best player in the league was a young 21 year old Texan from Austin by the name of Glen Clark. Clark made everyone stand up and look by going four for six and driving in five runs in the season opener. One of those four hits was a home run, one which observers said was still rising over the light pole in left field as it was exiting the Brunswick stadium. His best month was May, when the Braves’ third baseman was voted the league’s best player by Topps Chewing Gum Company. By the end of June, Clark was on his way toward winning the Triple Crown, leading the league in home runs, batting average, and runs batted in. As Clark had drawn the eyes of the league fans, his talents were instantly picked up by scouts, and he was shipped up to a Class C team in the Braves organization. Clark made it to the major leagues with the Atlanta Braves in 1967, when he ironically, but regrettably, matched the major league record of his manager, going 0 for 4 in four games, striking out once, and tying Steinecke and many others for the worst average in major league history. But back in the spring of 1962, everyone said that he was going to be the next Eddie Matthews.

Despite the fact that he left the league at the all star break, Clark wound up the season leading the league in home runs, total bases, and slugging average, and would have captured the league batting championship had he been able to obtain the minimum requirement of at bats.

The Braves began to wilt as the June sun began heat up the race. Moultrie caught the Braves on June 7th, but the Thomasville Tigers came racing forward to overtake both teams by mid month. But the fans kept coming. There were ladies nights, kid’s nights and family nights. Little leaguers got into the game free one night by wearing their uniform to the game. Dublin’s fans remained loyal to their team even during their slumps. Attendance wasn’t a problem for the Braves; they led the league in attendance. Steinecke’s team wouldn’t quit. Just as Thomasville began to pull away, the Braves would come back with a three or five game winning streak. Clark, along with Bob Agular; Samuel Emanuel; Al Pietrwicz, the league’s leading pitcher; Dick Hagan,and Ramon Perez were named to the All Star team, which lost 13 to 10 to the league leader Thomasville.

Hal Haydel (Right)

The Braves weren’t able to recover from the loss of Augular, Dan Kern, and Clark. But that didn’t stop them from trying. They signed John Whitlow Wyatt, Jr., son of the Milwaukee Braves pitching coach and a former all star pitcher. The Dublin Braves were originally to have Dan Schnider, a $100,000 bonus baby, but the parent club decided to start the young pitching phenom in a higher class league. Hal Haydel was brought in to shore up the pitching staff, while Jim Driscoll as assigned to Dublin’s outfield with hopes of putting him at third to replace Clark. Both players performed admirably, but not at the level team leaders had hoped. Driscoll played 36 games for the 1970 Oakland Athletics and the 1972 Texas Rangers posting only ten hits in seventy at bats. Hal Haydel faired a little better with a 6 and 2 record with the 1970 and 1971 Minnesota Twins, who in the former year were the Western Division champions. Both of the these future major leaguers nearly had their careers ended when they were involved in the severe crash of a taxi cab in Moultrie on July 15th.

Jim Driscoll (23yrs later)

But by far, the most successful Dublin Brave played his first game on June 27 when he got a single and a double and drove in four runs. Bill Robinson played originally for the Atlanta Braves, but was traded to the Yankees for Clete Boyer. He enjoyed several fine seasons with the Phillies, and found a home in Pittsburgh, where he was a member of the “We Are Family” Pirates who captured the 1979 World Championship. Robinson, who once worked as a sportscaster on ESPN, is still in baseball forty years after he first played in Dublin. His current job is the hitting coach for the Florida Marlins. In 2003, he became a member of another World Championship team as the first base coach of the Marlins.

Bill Robinson

Among the notable players of the Georgia-Florida league were: Dick Reese, who enjoyed many productive seasons with the Minnesota Twins; John Matchick, who played for the 1968 World Champion Detroit Tigers; Carroll Sembera, who pitched for the Houston Astros in the 1960s and Ken Avery, a name that you don’t recognize, but you would recognize the name of his son, the fireballing lefty Steve Avery, who helped the Atlanta Braves to recover from the disastrous decade of the 80s.

Program from the last game at

Lovett Park, signed by most

of the Dublin Braves 

The last Braves game, while ending with a win, left a sour taste in the mouth of the team’s officials. The Braves needed only 559 fans to break the twenty thousand mark in attendance. Only 339 fans, way below the home average, showed up. The reason: the ultimate in bad scheduling - that same night was the open house for the brand new Shamrock Bowl where 2600 Irish boosters came out to see their new field of dreams. So let’s just say that the officials missed those 240 people who got in free or snuck in late and just round it up to an even twenty grand.

(This column is dedicated to the memory of my friend, the late John Hodges, son of Frank Hodges, who died earlier this year at the age of forty six. John loved baseball as much as anyone. Now he gets to watch the greatest games of all eternity.)

TAB PRINCE

Talmadge "Tab" Prince, Dublin, GA.


Prince pulls ahead just moments before his
tragic death.



Death At Daytona

Tab Prince loved fast cars. He sold them. He drove them. He died in one of them. Thirty two years ago in the biggest race of his life, Talmadge Prince was killed in one of the 125 mile qualifying races for the Daytona 500, at the time the fastest race in the history of the eleven year old track. The life of the Dublin car dealer ended in a furious and hellish moment of death, death at Daytona.

Talmadge "Tab" Prince, who was born in 1937 in Athens, Tennessee. He attended the University of Alabama before going into business. In the fall of 1969, Prince left his electronics business in Decatur, Alabama to go into the car business in Dublin. Prince continue to maintain other business interests in Huntsville, Alabama, Atlanta, and in the state of North Carolina. He joined with Bill Hodges to form the partnership, Hodges and Prince, which sold Plymouth automobiles on their lot at 309 East Jackson Street. The partners sold used cars on their 245 East Jackson Street lot. It has been said that Prince had patented some type of electronic device which provided him with the funds to do what he loved to do, race cars. During his short stay in Dublin, Tab Prince called an apartment at 302 Ramsey Street home.

Prince purchased his Charger Daytona from James Hylton of Inman, South Carolina, in January of 1970. Hylton, the 1966 NASCAR Rookie of the Year, had enjoyed early success driving Dodges, but decided to switch to Fords in 1970. Prince had driven in small track races for ten years, but had never driven in anything like the Daytona. Unlike modern day race cars which are built from scratch, NASCAR racers took a stock chassis and body and made the necessary modifications to make the car go faster than the average car on the road. NASCAR regulations required that at least five hundred models of an automobile be produced to qualify the car to be a stock car. The requisite number of cars had to be produced before September 1st of the previous year. Competition between Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors was fierce. Each tried to build a faster car than the other. Tremendous sums of money were spent and lost in an effort to sell sports cars to those who could only dream of racing in a Grand National race.

Chrysler introduced a new and improved Charger in 1968, which had a powerful hemi engine, but was aerodynamically flawed. Changes were made again in 1969 to improve the car. The most visible change was the use of a nose cone on the front and a winged stabilizer on the rear of the car. Their Plymouth counterparts were dubbed the "Superbirds." The Daytona sold for $4200.00, but cost Chrysler more than fifteen hundred dollars for every one they sold. Actually none of the 1969 Charger Daytonas ever wound up on the race track. The car that Prince bought from Hylton began its life as a 1968 Charger, was modified to become a Charger 500, and modified again to become a Daytona. All five hundred ofthe 1969 Daytonas were sold. The company had orders for twelve hundred in the first three weeks after the car became available. Nearly seventy percent of the cars are still in existence today and are highly sought by muscle car collectors.

After Fords captured both races at Daytona in 1969, Chrysler was looking to get back to victory lane in 1970. The lead drivers that season were Richard Petty, the King of stock car racing and Pete Hamilton, his teammate, both of whom who drove Plymouths; and Bobby Isaac and Buddy Baker in Charger Daytonas. In March of 1970, Baker became the first NASCAR driver to attain a speed in excess of two hundred miles per hour. The nose cone, flush window fastback roof, and winged stabilizer made the superbirds the most aerodynamic cars on the track. Some experts estimated that it gave the Charger a five hundred yard advantage per lap on the super speedways. The superior design led to what had to be Chrysler's greatest year in racing. That year the Daytonas and the Plymouth Superbirds won an incredible thirty eight out of forty eight NASCAR races.

Cale Yarborough, driving his Wood Brothers Mercury, captured the first of the twin 125-mile qualifying races. Yarborough took advantage of pit strategy to beat Isaac in his Daytona. Superbird driver Pete Hamilton, the eventual winner of the main race, fell out of competition early on. Prince qualified for the second race with a speed of 165.562 miles per hour. Charlie Glotzbach, who was lucky to be alive after being nearly shot to death in a quarrel with an employee, and Buddy Baker, both driving Daytonas, took command early in the race.



Then, suddenly and without warning, on the twentieth lap of the race as Prince's number 78 Daytona was entering the high banked first turn of the Daytona super speedway, Prince's hemi engine blew. Oil gushed onto the track. The car started sliding sideways. Bill Seifort, of Skyland, North Carolina, was behind Prince. His car, too, went into a spin. The nose of Seifort's car struck Prince's car just behind the driver's side door. Seifort was traveling at an estimated one hundred and ninety miles per hour. Prince never had a chance. Prince's car burst into flames. In another micro instant, a third car, driven by Tommy Haliford of Spartanburg, South Carolina, smashed into the pileup.

Prince was killed instantly. His neck was broken. His spinal cord snapped. Seifort, who suffered cranial and cardiac concussions, was taken to the hospital in critical condition. Seifort survived the crash. Haliford escaped any serious injury, despite the fact that his car was totaled. After a thirteen lap caution period, Glotzbach went on the win the second qualifying race.

What nearly became a major controversy was averted when track officials successfully overcame allegations that they had failed to alert drivers of the presence of engine wreckage, debris, and chunks of tire rubber on the track for extended periods of time during the qualifying races. Track officials admitted that a four-foot long piece of tail pipe was left on the back straight of way, but they denied it had anything to do with Prince's accident.

Prince's death cast a pall over the crowd that Thursday and for the rest of the race week at Daytona. Twenty seven people have lost their lives at the Daytona raceway. Prince, who was killed thirty two years ago today, was only the second man to be killed in a race at Daytona. He was the first to actually be killed in a Grand National Race - in those days the qualifying races at Daytona were actual races and counted toward the points championship. Prince was the first of three men killed in the qualifying races and the second of six men, including the legendary Dale Earnhardt who was killed a year ago during the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, to be killed in a Grand National Race at the greatest of all car stock car tracks, the Daytona International Speedway.

DUBLIN GREEN SOX TEAM PICTURES

These are the collection of team photographs of the Dublin Green Sox from 1949 to 1954? Can you identify any of the players. Please email me at dublinhistory@yahoo.com. Scott B. Thompson, Sr.

STATE CHAMPIONS AGAIN!

The 1960 Dublin Irish Football Team

Front Row L to R - Bill Riner, Back Of the Year;

Ronnie Baggett, MVP; Top Row: Ben Snipes,

Lineman of the Year; Tennyson Coleman, Most

Versatile Player.

Winning a state championship is hard in any sport. It takes hard work, talent, and a lot of luck. Winning two consecutive championships is obviously more difficult. Following the 1959 season, the Irish players, fans, and coaches could only hope to repeat as champions, The team, the smallest one in many years, had only three starting first string players coming back from the championship team. The Irish opened the season at home on Battle Field, which had completely been refurbished through the efforts of Sgt . B.A. Snipes, Touchdown Club president Spec Hall, and many others.

Crisp County was the first opponent. They had gone 9 and 1 in 1959. The Irish shutout the Rebels 13 to 0 winning their sixteenth consecutive game. Tennyson Coleman, Dublin’s star running back, scored two touchdowns. While the Rebels concentrated on stopping Coleman, the other backs, Bill Riner and Pete Jernigan, took up the slack and piled up impressive rushing stats.

The Irish traveled to Fort Valley to face the Greenwave, the last team to have beaten them back in 1958. While the game was closer than the final score, the Irish took their measure of revenge and defeated Fort Valley, 20 to 6. Coleman added two more TD scores to run his total to four. Jimmy Harrington, playing in the place of Jernigan ( who saw limited action on defense due to a knee injury) scored the final touchdown in the third quarter. Jim Hilburn was the defensive star, swiping a last second pass at the end of the first half and killing a scoring drive with another takeaway in the final stanza.

Bill Riner and Ben Snipes led Dublin to a 19-14 victory over Sandersville in the third game. Coleman led both teams in rushing. Tal Fuqua, John Reed Deamer, Wayne Thomas, and Jimmy Dixon had outstanding games up on the front line. Ronnie Baggett fielded a Washington County punt on the Washington County 36-yard line and handed off to Bill Riner. Riner followed a wall of green and white blockers into the opposing end zone to seal the third victory of the season.

Bill Riner

The Irish trailed the Statesboro Blue Devils at the end of the half of the fourth and most crucial game of the year. A near record crowd of four thousand fans surrounded Battle Field to cheer on the Irish. Coleman had to leave the game in the second quarter with an injury he suffered during the off week practice. Harrington stepped up and performed well. He spun through and around several Blue Devil defense men to tally Dublin’s only touchdown of the game. Bill Riner tossed a pass to left. Wayne Thomas cradled it in for the extra point, the margin of victory. Irish coaches praised Bill Brown, Hugh Palmer, Jimmy Scarborough, Hollis Neal, and Jimmy Hilburn for their fine play.

Riner took a reverse handoff and returned a punt for 70 yards for the first score against the Cochran Royals. Riner scored again on a 76 yard run from scrimmage. Riner scored a third time, a 57 yard run up the middle. Riner returned the favor from Baggett, giving him the ball on a reverse for another 70 yard touchdown return on a punt. As usual, Deamer, Brown, Hilburn, Harrington, Fuqua, Riner, Jernigan, and Snipes were stand outs on defense.

The Irish winning streak was stopped at 20 games by the Swainsboro Tigers, 19 to 13. Mistakes cost the Irish the game and jeopardized the chances of repeating even the Region championship. Despite a plague of injuries, the Irish came back the next week to defeat Eastman High, 20 to 6. Riner and Jernigan pushed across the first two Dublin scores. Jimmy Scarborough grabbed a Baggett pass at the end of the first half to end the scoring for the Irish, who held on in the second half for the victory. The Irish continued to roll over their opponents in the homecoming game against Screven County. Riner, Coleman, and Jernigan scored touchdowns for the Irish following a scoreless first half. The stubborn Irish defense held the Gamecocks scoreless for their second shutout of the year.

Coach Minton Williams was afraid of Jerry Reeves, star running back of the Americus Panthers and one of finest backs to ever play against the Irish. In the first nine games, Reeves's rushing average was more than 130 yards per game. The teams played before an overflow crowd at Battle Field in Dublin. Reaves again put up outstanding numbers. Dublin was ahead by one point at the end of third quarter. Near the end of the game, the Americus quarterback, who was a cousin of Jerry Reeves, scored on a one yard quarterback-sneak to put the Panthers ahead for good. The Irish lost 27 to 21. The quarterback who scored the winning touchdown went on to be a star player with the South Carolina Gamecocks. He played professional football with the Dallas Cowboys from 1965 to 1972, playing in two Super Bowls. After his playing career he went into coaching. He coached the Denver Broncos from 1981 to 1992 leading them to the Super Bowl in 1986, 1987, and 1989. He has been in eight Super Bowls as a player and coach, more than any other in the history of the NFL. He left the Broncos to take the job as coach of the New York Giants, where he was Coach of the Year in 1993. In 1999, he led the Atlanta Falcons to the Super Bowl. The cousin at quarterback for the Americus Panthers, who beat the Dublin Irish on a last minute touchdown, was another Reeves - Dan Reeves.

The Irish ended their regular season with a 18 to 7 victory over Baldwin County. The Irish defeated their arch rival Blue Devils from Statesboro to win the 2-A Region Championship. Dublin scored on two long drives of 87 and 83 yards, most of them picked up a few yards at a time. Once again, Coleman, Riner, Baggett, and Snipes dominated the offensive attack in the 14 to 7 victory. Coleman, who gained more than a hundred yards on the ground, and Riner, who scored with less than ninety seconds in the game, scored touchdowns for the Irish.

Five thousand fans surrounded Battle Field to watch the Irish go head to head with Ware County for the South Georgia championship. The Irish, with touchdowns from Coleman, Snipes, Riner, and Thomas, scored in every quarter for a impressive 28 to 7 victory. Two of those scores came from passes from Baggett.

South Georgia Championship at Battle Field, Dublin.

The Irish traveled to Thomaston to meet Carrollton for the Class A State Championship. Ronnie Baggett scored three touchdowns on keepers and completed all six of his passes to highlight the Dublin offensive attack. The game was close until the fourth quarter when the Irish broke a 20-20 tie in the last stanza to win the game, 33-20 and established themselves as two time state champions. Scouting from the sidelines that night was the legendary Shug Jordan of Auburn University.

Other players who played on the Irish that year, not previously heretofore mentioned, were Bob Garbutt, Roland Hill, Douglas McIntyre, Carl Stone, Bill Davis, Roger Fountain, Eddie Scott, Phillip Haynes, Mike Belote, Sammy McAlexander, Ben Morgan, James Gardner, Malcolm Dunn, Hugh Hamrick and Jimmy Nelson. Coleman, Riner, Baggett, and Snipes were named to the All Middle Georgia team. The latter two were named to the All State Team along with their coach, Minton Williams.

TY COBB, JR.

No Chip Off the Old Block

He was never a baseball player, although his name was Tyrus Raymond Cobb, Jr. He loved the sport of baseball, but he never played it on a professional level or even in high school. He loved other sports, especially tennis and hunting. His was one of the most famous families in Georgia history, though he never reveled in their fame. He would talk to others about his famous father. However, he had his own successful, but all too short career. He was a healer, and he took pride in doing his job and doing it well.

Tyrus Raymond Cobb, Jr. was born on January 30, 1910 in the home of his maternal grandfather, Roswell Lombard. Lombard, a well-known Augusta, Georgia businessman, lived on Dean’s Bridge Road, which later became known as U.S. Highway No. 1, just this side of Augusta. Ty Cobb, Sr. married Charlie Lombard on August 8, 1908. Ty, their second child was a bid red-headed baby, tipping the scales at nine pounds. Newspaper writers knew that he was going to be a great baseball player, just like his daddy.

The elder Cobb had made it to the pinnacle of the American League in 1909. He was the second of only fourteen players in major league history to win the Triple Crown, leading the American League in batting average, home runs (9), and runs batted in. Cobb also led the league in runs, hits, on-base average, slugging average, and stolen bases. The 1909 season, just before Ty’s birth, was one of the greatest seasons a major league ball player ever had. Cobb nearly won the Triple Crown three years in a row, leading the league in two of three categories. Cobb, considered one of the best and meanest players (his own teammates disliked his tactics) who ever lived, remains at the top of the all-time statistical leaders. Cobb is first in runs scored, and lifetime batting average with a .366 average. He got on base 43.3 % of the time. He was second in triples and hits, although he batted nearly three thousand less times than the leader, Pete Rose. He is fourth in games played, doubles, total bases, and at bats. Cobb stands fifth in runs batted in. In an era when stolen bases were not the norm, Ty Cobb still remains fourth on the all time list. Cobb, known as the "Georgia Peach," led the American League in batting average 12 out 13 seasons. Famous people came to visit Cobb, including President William Howard Taft soon before the younger Ty’s birth.



Ty Cobb, Sr.

The Cobbs moved into a two story home at 2425 William Street in the well-to-do Summerville section of Augusta, just a short distance from the current location of Augusta State University. Ty’s childhood was not like that of a typical Augusta boy. Visitors to the Cobb home included such legendary Americans as Knute Rockne, Bobby Jones, John Phillip Sousa, Robert Woodruff, and baseball commissioner, Kennesaw "Mountain" Landis. The sounds of classical music filled his home, while a wide variety of pets and animals were kept outside in the back yard. Although the elder Ty’s feats on the baseball diamond provided the Cobb family with all of the amenities of life, their family life was not so amenable. Ty Cobb’s legendary ball field temper came with him when he came home during the off season.



Ty Cobb Sr. (center) takes a portrait with his five children, (left to right) Herschel, Jimmy, Shirley, Beverly and Ty Jr. Ty Jr. spent years as a doctor in Dublin, Ga., before being diagnosed with brain cancer. He died living with his mother and sister in California. @ Augusta Chronicle, Don Rhodes, author of Safe At Home, a biography of Ty Cobb.


Ty, Jr. attended Richmond Academy in Augusta, where he was a two-sport star. Ty chose football and tennis, not even trying out for the baseball team. He knew that he could never match his father’s feats as a baseball player. Ty Jr., the antithesis of his father, was considered shy and took a lot of jealous ribbing from his fellow students. Ty loved to play tennis, then considered a game of the erudite. He played in the South Atlantic Tennis Tournament against Bill Tilden, the greatest tennis player of his day. Tilden, the first American to win at Wimbledon, became Ty’s personal tennis coach.

Ty attended Princeton University for a time before failing too many courses. He continued to play tennis after transferring to Yale University, where he was captain of the team. Ty returned nearer to home to study medicine at the Medical College of Charleston. He did his intern work at the University of Georgia Medical School in his hometown, without the financial aid of his father. While on a fishing trip in Florida, he met his wife, Mary Frances Dunn, whom he married on June 13, 1942. Ty returned to Augusta to his practice, before moving to Dublin several years later. The Cobbs had three children, Ty, III, Charlie, and Peggy. In 1945, Dr. and Mrs. Cobb bought the Hardeman Blackshear home at 1108 Stonewall Street, where the senior Cobb reportedly visited him on at least one occasion.

Dr. Cobb played very little organized baseball. He did love baseball. "He was my doctor, my favorite doctor," Wash Larsen recalled. "I still remember going into his office in the Thompson hospital on Rowe Street. It was a thrill just to go in and listening to his stories about baseball, and he had some good ones," Larsen said. Larsen and his friends practiced baseball on the ball field at the old fairgrounds at the corner of Telfair and Troup Streets. "Nearly every day, Dr. Cobb would pull up to the ballfield in his sports car. He would get out and ask if he could play ball with us. We said sure, of course, Dr. Cobb," Larsen said. After all, he was Ty Cobb, not the ball player, but as close as the young boys would ever get to him. "He hit all of our baseballs over the fence into the kudzu-lined ravine across the road and then left," Larsen fondly remembered. Larsen and his friends went to the kudzu patch and found every ball they could, hoping that Dr. Cobb would come back the next day and hit them over the fence again, which he did. Dr. Cobb was one of the better golfers in Dublin. He loved hunting. One day he was out on the Oconee River hunting for game birds. When he hit his first wild goose, he found a band on the bird's leg. Cobb stated, "I nearly fell out of the boat." The bird came from a wildlife refuge and the home of his friend, the famous Jack Miner. The Ontario refuge, where Cobb had visited many times as a child and an adult, was home to thousands of birds under the protection of the Canadian government.

As a doctor, Ty Cobb became one of Dublin’s finest and most respected physicians. Cobb joined Doctors A.T. Coleman and Fred Coleman and the American Legion in calling for the construction of a county hospital in Dublin. Early in 1952, Dr. Cobb was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He underwent an operation and lived for a time with his sister Shirley Beckworth in New York. The family kept him in New York, knowing that the hot Dublin summers wouldn’t be good for him. Although he looked healthy, the cancer was destroying his brain. In a poignant meeting, Ty, Sr. offered to give Ty, Jr. a bird dog. Ty had enough memory left to realize that his father had never given him anything.

Tyrus Raymond Cobb, Jr. died on September 9, 1952. He was entombed in the family mausoleum in Palo Alto, California. His father died in 1961 and his mother in 1975. She was entombed by her sons, while Ty, Sr. chose to be laid to rest in his hometown of Royston. Dr. Cobb’s fellow Dublin Rotary Club members started a memorial scholarship fund in his memory dedicated to providing scholarships to medical students. Dr. Cobb’s son, Charlie probably summed up the essence of his father when he said, " I don’t care what time he came in from treating his patients or delivering babies – sometimes two or three in the morning – my father always would come into our bedrooms and give us a kiss. I probably remember that more about him than anything else."

THE BIG GAMES AT LITTLE HILBURN PARK

L-R Tournament Director, Dublin Coach Minton Williams, Tom Perry, Don Vaughn, Reggie Belote



The 1959 District 5 Little League Tournament

There is something special about little league baseball. It’s not the heat. It’s not the bugs. It’s not the mothers exercising their inalienable rights to chastise the umpires, even when they are right. No, what makes little league baseball so special is that it is a part of America. The bonds of friendship formed in these years last a lifetime. There is something special about seeing a kid get his first hit after striking out twenty times in a row; something special about watching a kid strike out the side in his first pitching appearance; and something special about seeing your child driving in the winning run.

The late A. Bartlett Giamatti, a former Commissioner of Baseball, probably said it best: “ It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in spring, when everything else begins again, and blossoms in summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then, just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.”

The summer of 1959 was a special one for Dublin’s baseball fans. There was no minor league team in town that year. Little Hilburn Park was selected as the site of the District 5 Little League Championship. Four teams from Macon, two from Warner Robins, one from Wrens, and the Dublin team played against each other in late July. Playing for Dublin were: Jimmy Forte, Edward Jones, Edward Hall, Reggie Belote, Danny Camp, Joel Smith, John Cooke, and Roy Bedingfield, kneeling. Coach Don Vaughn, Joseph Rogers, Lindsey Swida, Kirk Reed, Glenn Register, Robert Swinson and Tom Perry.

Spec Hall groomed the field into one of the finest Little League fields in Georgia. Elmer Mackey and Clyde Felker served as the tournament directors. Ed Bateman handled the public address system and the official scoring. The crowds were big - about twelve hundred (yes, I said twelve hundred) people in attendance every day.

The Dublin All Stars went through two a day practices in preparation for the tournament. They defeated the Mike Belote Crackers in a practice game just before the tournament began. Dublin’s first game was against the Warner Robins Americans. Tom Perry, who paced the Pirates during the regular season with an 8-0 record, held the youngsters from Warner Robins to two hits and one earned run in the six inning game. Edward Hall led Dublin with two hits and Robert Swinson drove in two runs when he stroked a home run, which gave Dublin the victory, 4 to 1.

In the other opening game, Ralph Walters of the Warner Robins Nationals mastered the hitters from Wrens, striking out thirteen out of eighteen batters. Walters hurled a perfect game. He had to. The opposing pitcher, Tony Holley, allowed only one hit, but that one hit was a long home run over the left field wall by Ralph Perkins to give the Nationals a 1-0 victory. In the other games of the opening round, Macon squeaked by cross-town rival, Ocmulgee, 4 to 3. Two other Macon teams, South Macon and Vine-Ingle battled each other. Vine-Ingle came out on top, 3 to 2.

Dublin’s semifinal opponent was the Warner Robins Nationals. Reggie Belote went the distance for the Dublin team, striking out five and allowing no bases on balls. Belote forced his opponents to hit the ball right at his fielders with only three balls getting by them for hits. Warner Robins scored first in the top of the fifth inning. Ed Hall managed to score the Irish’s first run through a trio of National errors. The Nationals took the lead again in the top of the sixth and final inning.

The boys from Dublin wouldn’t quit. With one out, Reggie Belote doubled down the left field line and moved to third on a passed ball. Jimmy Forte walked and stole second base. Danny Camp walked to load the bases. Roy Bedingfield, Jr. stepped up and sent a bullet through the gap to plate Belote and Forte and give the Irish a ticket to the finals. In the other semifinal game, Richard Jordan hit a 230-foot home run to lead his Macon team over Vine-Ingle by the score of 7 to 5.

Fifteen hundred people turned out to see the final game between Dublin and Macon. Some of them stayed for the game after the Nationals’ victory over Vine-Ingle in the consolation game. Dublin broke out on top in the first inning when Kirk Reed singled and came around to score on a combined three base throwing and fielding error by the left and right fielders from Macon. Macon came back to tie it up in the bottom of the first. Two scoreless innings followed. Kirk Reed led off the fourth inning with his second hit of the day. Tom Perry and Reggie Belote reached base on walks to load the bases. Roy Bedingfield drew a walk, driving in the go-ahead run. It was Robert “Rabbit” Swinson’s turn to bat. Not wanting to be out done by his opponent Jordan of Macon, Swinson swatted a monster two hundred and thirty-foot grand slam blast over the left field fence, which is about 190 feet from home plate. Macon attempted a comeback in the final inning of the game, but only managed to score once. Tom Perry, who hurled twelve strike outs in the game, held on to strike out two batters for the first two outs and get the final batter to ground into a fielder’s choice. The crowd, especially the mommas and daddies, went wild.

Manager Minton Williams hoisted Tom Perry on his shoulders. The was no hollering at the umpires that day. Larry Schenk brought along three other “blues” to make sure that they were on top of every call.

The Dublin Irish had made it. They were going to Marietta for the state tournament. Tournament officials held a banquet for the teams the night before the tournament began on August 6th. Dublin was joined by teams from Albany, Buckhead, Winder, Columbus, Cascade Heights, Rome and Marietta. Dublin’s first opponents were the all-stars from Buckhead, a suburban team from Atlanta. The Buckhead boys were loaded. It was the big city boys against the little city boys. The Irish got their first hit in the fifth inning and managed their only other hit in the sixth inning. Ten Dublin boys went down on strikes. Despite the best efforts of three Dublin pitchers, the boys from Buckhead plated ten runs to send Dublin home empty handed. There was no joy in the Emerald City that night, but there was no shame either.

All of Dublin was proud of its little leaguers. They had risen to become one of the best teams in Georgia. That was enough, there were no losers on this team. Don Lamb, of the Dublin Rotary Club, organized a fete at the Dublin Country Club for the all-star team and the Dublin Pirates. The Pirates had been under the sponsorship of the Rotary Club for five years and who established a record of eighty four wins and only eight losses. Playing for the Pirates were Perry, Swinson, Reed, R. Belote, and Smith of the all-stars along with Pat Reed, John Strickland, Vic Belote, Johnny Grier, Bobby Wanner, Tommy Wanner, Harry Graham, Billy Bracewell, Billy Beam, Rickey Eberhardt, and Buddy Jones.

Take in a little league game, even if you don’t have a child playing, even if you don’t particularly like baseball, and even though you don’t like hot weather. You will never regret it. It is baseball where the players play for free. It is baseball where anyone can be a hero. It is simply, baseball at its best.

THE WORLD'S FASTEST HUMAN AND THE BLACK BABE RUTH

Jesse Owens
Oscar Charleston

THE WORLD'S FASTEST HUMAN AND
THE BLACK BABE RUTH

The recent public appearance by Evander Holyfield at a D.A.R.E. graduation at Southwest Laurens Elementary brings to mind a day, nearly sixty years ago. On that day two of the greatest athletes in the history of the world displayed their talents for thousands of admiring fans, who for the first time got to see their heroes up close and in person. One man was one of the greatest track and field athletes of all time. The other man, whose career was thwarted by baseball commissioner Kennesaw Landis’s refusal to allow black athletes in major league baseball, was one of the greatest players in the history of the Negro Leagues.

The friends of Washington Street School were raising money for athletic programs at the school. On April 10, 1940, a special benefit was planned at the fairgrounds on Telfair Street. The fairgrounds had seen great athletes and spectacles before. In 1918, the New York Yankees defeated the Boston Braves on the fairground diamond. The St. Louis Cardinals stopped in town on their way back to St. Louis after spring training to play a game against the Oglethorpe University Petrels in 1933. Two years later, the Cardinals returned to play the University of Georgia Bulldogs. In all, eight members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Miller Huggins, Frank "Home Run" Baker, Dizzy Dean, Rogers Hornsby, Leo Durocher, Frankie Frisch, Joe Medwick, and Jesse Haines played on the sandy field located at the northwest corner of Telfair and Troup Streets. County fairs, circuses, and even a performance by cowboy legend Tom Mix had drawn thousands to the old 12th District fairgrounds.

The feature attraction of the day was billed as "the world's fastest human." His name ranks among the greatest athletes in Olympic history. In the 1935 Big Ten Track and Field Championships, he broke five world records and tied one in a forty-five minute period. In the 1936 Summer Olympics, he won four gold medals. At the time he held the world record for a long jump, 220-yard hurdles, and 220-yard dash and had tied the world record for the 100-yard dash. He also had tied the world record with a time of 10.3 seconds in the 100-meter dash. A 20.7 second time in the 200-meter dash gave him another Olympic record. He was put on the 400-meter relay team at the last minute. The team set a world and Olympic record.

Interestingly, it was one of the German competitors who gave him a helpful hint which allowed him to beat the German in the long jump. The German jumper told the American track star to make a mark a few inches short of the foul line and to jump from that point. It worked. He set an Olympic record that stood for twenty-five years. He won the Gold medal - and the German, won the Silver. He stated that all of the medals he won wouldn’t replace the friendship he had developed with Lutz Long, the German athlete. Long was killed in the Battle of St. Pietro on July 14, 1943. Adolph Hitler was so enraged that he stormed out of the stadium refusing to present the medals.

The world champion American athlete’s name was, of course, Jesse Owens. In Dublin, Owens was scheduled to compete in a dash around the baseball diamond, a one hundred yard dash against a race horse, a running broad jump, and a one hundred twenty-yard low hurdle race. After his exhibition, Owens gave an interview over a loud speaker answering questions from his fans. Owens never enjoyed the attention that should have been given to him. In the mid 1930s, he was ignored when national amateur athletic awards were handed out. He later fell from grace with some who disagreed with his comments and beliefs on social relationships in America.
Preceding Owens' feats of human speed that day, there was an exhibition baseball game between the Toledo Crawfords and the Ethiopian Clowns. Jesse Owens was the business manager of the Crawfords. The game was played before fans, both white and black. The two teams traveled the country stopping nearly every day to play a baseball game - some times before a few hundred fans and other times, before tens of thousands.

The Crawfords began playing on a sand lot in Pittsburgh in the 1920s. In those early days, legendary catcher Josh Gibson was on the team. Their owner, Gus Greenlee, used the profits from his gambling and liquor activities to buy the best players in the Negro Leagues. Greenlee built and equipped a lighted stadium, years before the Major Leagues began playing at night. The Crawfords joined the re-organized Negro National League in 1933. It was the first year of the Negro League All Star Game - the East-West Classic, which was created by Greenlee. The Crawfords won the National League championship in 1935. In 1937, their star players, led by Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson, left the team in a salary dispute. The team was never the same. Greenlee sold the Crawfords, and the team moved to Toledo, Ohio. One star remained with the team. His name was Oscar Charleston, known by the press writers as "The Hoosier Comet."

The Crawfords were led by Oscar Charleston, who was playing in his last season for the team. Charleston was a slick fielder with a lifetime average of .380. Many regard him as the greatest Negro League player of all time. John McGraw called him "the greatest player ever." In 1921, he batted .446 with 14 home runs for the St. Louis Giants. In one nine-year span, Charleston batted over .350 in all nine seasons, twice hitting over .400. Charleston joined the Crawfords in 1932 and consistently hit around .350. Charleston was a fan and player favorite. As a fielder, he was known as "The Black Tris Speaker"; as a runner, he was known as "The Black Ty Cobb;" and as a power hitter, he was known as "The Black Babe Ruth." Oscar Charleston, who ended his career with a .376 batting average, was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1976.

The Ethiopian Clowns were a true barnstorming team. They were the clown princes of Negro League Baseball, comparable to the Harlem Globetrotters’ basketball team. While they had no great stars, the Clowns, who eventually moved to Indianapolis along with the Crawfords, were fan favorites all over the nation. One popular routine was called Shadow Ball. In this routine, the players pantomimmed an imaginary game of baseball with outlandish movements and stunts. Fans were thrilled when one player would pick up four baseballs and throw them at the same time to four different players. The Clowns toured the country until the early fifties. Their most famous alumnus was a young Mobile, Alabama outfielder by the name of Henry Aaron, who led the American National League with a .467 average - a miraculous feat considering he batted cross handed.

Dubliners had seen good Negro League players before. The Dublin Athletics, members of an independent Negro League, played on a field on East Mary Street near the Dudley Cemetery. They were a pretty fair team in their own right, but nothing could compare to that April day when two of the giants in the world of sports played on our field.