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The 1946 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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In 1946, with troops back home from the war, the economy began its post-war boom.
Baseball, like other industries, now had plenty of capable young men to fill positions and plenty of interest from americans looking for entertainment. The minor leagues expanded from 12 leagues in 1945 to 41 leagues in 1946. One of those 29 new leagues was the reborn Alabama State League. After a four-season absence, the AFL returned with four of the six 1941 teams and two new franchises for its seventh season. Andalusia and Tallassee were gone: The Rams couldn’t put together an ownership group and the Indians chose to move to a new circuit in direct competition with the AFL: the Geogia-Alabama League. The GAL had six teams, three of which were in Alabama: Tallassee, Opelika, and Valley. Valley, a small milltown on the western banks of the Chattahoochee, actually represented three towns: Valley and Lanett in Alabama, and West Point in Georgia. With so many returning players, the GAL might not have been perceived as a threat to the AFL, but it was obvious they were going to bid for the services of the same group of players as the AFL. The GAL managed an early coupe when they brought Holt Milner and Luke Gunnells to manage Carrollton and Valley. To replace Tallassee and Andalusia, franchises were awarded to the tiny south Alabama town of Geneva and original franchise city, Ozark. Ozark had just built a new ballpark, named Eagle Stadium and their new team, named the Eagles of course, looked forward to a more extended stay in Ozark than their predecesors, the Cardinals had. |
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Rebirth
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The Geneva franchise was brought into the league by two local brothers named
Johnson that owned a cottn mill. Other Geneva businessmen put their money into the pot too. The expense of keeping a team going was always a challenge, and owners were always concerned about their one source of income: the gate. Chick Earle, former Andalusia outfielder, relates a story of the lengths ownership would go to to get a game played, even in bad weather: Earle remembered. ‘ We were fixin’ to play one evening in Geneva and it had been raining all day in Andalusia. It’s only about 45 miles away and they had this guy there named George Kito (an investor in the Red Birds and local pharmacist). So we called and said, « How’s the weather doin’ of there George? ». He says, « It’s fine, just raining in spots, you come on over » |
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Eagle Stadium
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Anyway, we went over there and it had been pouring all morning. I’ll
tell you something about Class D ball in those days: You know we had to have the gate receipts so they tried to play. If it rained and the field wasn’t quite ready, they go buy some gasoline and pour it on the infield and let it burn. Then about thirty minutes later we’d be playing. » The league elected a new presidentfor the 1946 season: Jack Hovater. Hovator had been one of the four original umpires hired by the league and was well aquainted with the challenges of keep a Class D league on its feet Hovater promised a competitive season with all teams evenly matched and that’s exactly what the league delivered. Teams traded positions in the league table often. It wasn’t unusual to find a team in first place at the beginning of a month and find them in fifth by the end of the month. Ozark lead the league on June 1st and Geneva was in fifth. Before July was half over, Ozark was fighting to stay ahead of last-place Brewton. By the end of the campaign, Ozark was positioned in the cellar. Troy lead the league at the all star break but finished fifth by season’s end. On July 20th, only 2.5 games separated the top five teams. In the end, it was the Dothan Browns that won the pennant, but they lost the first round of playoffs to Greenville and it was the newcomer Geneva Red Birds that conquered the Lions to take the chapionship playoffs crown. |
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Elsewhere in 1946
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Nesbit Wilson (1955 Crestview, 1956 Donalsonville, 1957 Fort Walton Beach, 1957-58
Pensacola) selected to the Southeastern League All-star team. The league would have five AFL men in managerial positions: Tommy West, Bill McGhee, Joe Cavosie, Walt Tauscher, and Fred Williams |
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Lewis Flick of Little Rock in the Southern Association banged out 9 hits in
a 19-inning game versus Memphis on July 21st. |
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Former Panama City player Max Rosenfeld managed the Miami Beach Flamingos of the
Class C Florida International League |
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Steve Bysco, former Tallassee pitcher and manager, was manager of the Class C Burlington
Bees of the Carolina League. His star player was Gus Zernial. |
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On July 11th, Bill Kennedy struck out 25 Goldsboro Goldbugs to raise his total to
176 Ks in 87 innings pitched. Kennedy ended the season with 28 wins, 456 strikeouts, and a 1.03 ERA. By August, Kenneday had passed Virgil Trucks’ 1938 record of 418. |
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Bill Kennedy
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On April 21st, Brewton edged Ozark in a four-hour, eighteen minute marathon, 30-29.
Four hours today would barely complete a world series game, but back then it was an extremely long time for a single game. Brewton was in danger of losing this slugfest, but scored their last three runs in the 9th to win it. Ten pitchers (6 for Brewton, 4 for Ozark) labored through this contest, giving up 46 walks, 6 wild pitches, and 35 base hits (including 7 doubles and 2 triples). There were 9 stolen bases during the game. The winning pitcher, by default, was manager Ben Catchings. Ben earned his win with a sterling 1 inning, 5 earned run performance. |
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During a game in May, Troy centerfielder, Emil Bozick, had a 6 for 6 night against
Greenville. Bozick rapped 2 homers, 3 triples, and a single for 18 total bases. |
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Wilbur Hester of the Troy Trojans and Greenville Lions, was married at home plate
of Greenville Stadium. |
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Ozark
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In late July, the Brewton Millers pitching staff put together a streak of 23 scoreless
innings before giving up a run on July 23rd. The next game, a rookie reliever named Francis Moore was given the start. He took full advantage of the opportunity and threw a no-hitter. |
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Jim Atkins
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