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The 1941 Season
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Season Highlights & Events
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Wecome to the AFL
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Goodbye
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1938 AFL players who played in the majors:
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The sixth ASL season mirrored the atmosphere in the country at large. Uncertainty
about the future not only was on the minds of the general public, who felt the effects of the beginnings of the draft, domestic defense service, and supply shortages, but also on the minor league owners, who saw the number of decent players dwindle dangerously low. The Alabama State League found itself struggling, like many businesses, to survive through the changes caused by preparation for war. Add to that a horrible drought in the South, which resulted in severe power shortages for wide regions, and you’ve got a scenario that could be at best described as gloomy. In June, Tallassee had to stop playing night games due to the power shortages. After two weeks of attendance numbers 50% lower than the early season numbers, the Indians decided to try playing under the unpredictable lights, but only on Saturdays. Dothan, which dominated the first half of the season by winning 27 games in a 32 game stretch, was unable to attract enough fans to stay afloat. The team was on the verge of collapse when the Dothan Eagle and civic leaders rallied local business leaders to infuse enough cash to save the Browns from going under. Meanwhile in Brewton, business was just as bad for the Millers. The team was drawing meager crowds and losing barrels of cash. A civic campaign was introduced in June and through some friendly arm-twistng, the Millers raised enough cash to stay afloat. Over in Troy, the birthplace of the league, the drought and disinterest brought the franchise to its knees. The team had become affiliated with the Dodgers at the beginning of the season, even changing their nickname to Dodgers, but the change seemed more of a jinx than a blessing. By July, the Dodgers were in a financial freefall. Owner D. G. O’Neill publically refused to give in completely, but privately he had already arranged to move the franchise about 35 miles north to Tuskegee, home of George Washington Carver, Tuskegee University and the Tuskegee Airmen: O’Neill had gained approval from President Eric Ballard to move the franchise, but announced to the Troy Messenger that the move was just a temporary situation. O’Neill claimed that the Dodgers would be back in Troy next season when the drought and the financial troubles that plagued the league would be over. O’neill never had to make good on his promise because the next season never came. The war provided the remedy for the crippled league: The ASL would suspend operations, not because of dire financial conditions, but because of the war. It would be five seasons before the Alabama State League would reappear. As far as the baseball played in 1941, there was an exciting race developing early in the year. By the first of June, Brewton held a tenuous lead, with all teams except Greenville was within 3 games of the leaders. Dothan then stormed ahead of the pack with a successful early June and Tallassee followed later in the month. The two teams started to pull away from the other four, as the Rams, Millers, Dodgers, and Lions lost over and over. At the All star break, the league’s attendance figures were almost the reverse of the standings: The league leading Dothan Browns had the worst attendance, while the cellar dwelling Greenville Lions were the most successful team at the gate. The All star game in Greenville drew a respectable 2654 and the pre game festivities featured a windy speech by former league president, George Grant, who had entered politics after leaving the AFL, and had run a successful campaign for a vacant U.S. Congressional seat. Tallassee and Dothan battled through July and August for the league title. Tallassee had seven starters batting over .300, including Forrest « Country » Austin and Wilbur Downs, but the Browns had better pitching, including the league’s only 20-game winner: Joe Rivers. Dothan, winning 85 % of it’s games in July, pushed just far enough ahead of Tallassee to win it all. The Indians made a fiight out of it though, and the Browns didn’t clinch the title until just two days before the season’s end. In the playoffs, The two powerhouses made easy work of Andalusia and Brewton. Dothan proved they belonged on top, winning a one-sided series over the Indians: 4 games to 1. The league would suspend operations after the final game of the playoffs, and not return again until 1946.. |
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D.G. O’Neill
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Dark Clouds and Empty Pockets
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The week before the All-star game, Andalusia’sall star right fielder,
Ralph McDuffie, was killed in a car accident. |
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Tallassee had six starters hitting better than .300. three of which had over 100
RBIs: Forrest Austin, Mal Morgan, and Ray Knowles. |
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On May 19th, the Tallassee Indians scored 30 runs against Brewton, including 16 in
the second inning alone. |
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Tallassee missed star outfielder Gordon Goodell, but found a new star for 1941 in
Forrest « Country » Austin. Austin captured the loyalty of the fans at the beginning of the season by hitting 6 homers in the first 9 games, and Indians supporters started to talk about Austin’s potential to break the home run record set the previous year by Goodell. 47 games into the season, Austin was on pace for not only the homer title, but also the RBI title. Austin’s 87 RBIs easily lead the league, with teammate Ray Knowles in second place. At season’s end, Austin had managed to break Goodell’s homer mark of 31 by one,, and he set the new RBI record with 149, while batting .359. Teammate Knowles had the second best RBI mark, driving in 137. After the season, Austin was looking for a chance to move to Class B ball. He did so briefly, after starting the 1942 season at Dothan in the new Georgia-Florida league, he moved on to Greenville in the South Atlantic League and then to Class B Pensacola in the Southeastern league before calling it quits. |
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Andalusia’s Bill Hair won his 9th game of the season before his 18th birthday.
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Elsewhere In 1941
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Jack Clifton (1951 Headland) selected to the Coastal Plain League All-star team.
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Johnny Lipon (1959 Selma) leads the Michigan State League in HR’s (35), RBI’s (115),
hits (176), and runs (126). Gene Woodling’s .394 batting average prevented Lipon from winning the Triple Crown. |
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Paul Armstrong (1939 Andalusia) and Tommy West (1937 Union Springs) were selected
the the Southeastern League All-star team. West was selected as manager. |
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Red Barbary
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Thurlow Dam, Tallassee
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