In July of 1951, the league had just survived its biggest tragedy and crisis: The beaning death of Ottis Johnson.  The Johnson tragedy almost brought an end to the league, but barely a month and a half later, another crisis threatened to topple to already fragile league once and for all.

On July 21st, 1951, the Ozark Eagles were in Headland to play a night game against the rival Dixie Runners.  Umpiring behind home plate was an inexperienced arbiter named Bob DeHaney. Many of the league's umpires were poorly paid, and the meager wages did not attract the most skilled men to the position.  In DeHaney's case, he had virtually no experience at the professional level and was still new to the job.  A fly ball hit deep into the poorly lighted left field alley of Peanut Stadium sparked the trouble.

Bill Farrar, Ozark's left fielder, chased the hard-hit ball into deep left field but could not reach it on the fly.  There was a bit of an embankment in the outfield, and the fly ball had landed on it.  Farrar stopped chasing the ball well before reaching the wall, apparently losing the ball in the uneven lighting. Farrar’s aborted pursuit of the ball signaled to some that the ball had left the park. Umpire DeHaney was evidently convinced that this is what happened.  The Dixie Runners had two men on base, and they trotted home while Umpire DeHaney made the circling motion with his hand that indicated a home run.  Farrar was evidently still unsure where the ball had gone because he didn’t make a move to retrieve it. Chase Riddle, Ozark's star player-manager, watched the flight of the ball from the dugout and was quite sure of where it had landed. He ran out of the dugout to protest Dehaney’s call and to prove that the ball was still in the field of play. As Riddle revealed 50 years later,  " I said to him, 'The ball didn't go out of the ballpark, its out there on the bank'. I was protesting to the umpire and I said, 'Get some help. See if the infield ump can help you'."  Riddle called for Farrar to retrieve the ball from the spot where Riddle had seen it drop and Farrar found the ball and brought it in to the infield to show to DeHaney.  The Eagles, lead by manager Riddle got in DeHaney’s face, angrily demanding a reversal of the home run call, but the umpire would have none of it. DeHaney told  Riddle,  "I don't care where you got that ball (from), when I saw the ball, it went out of the park and it's a home run".  Riddle, a life-long baseball man who had dealt with blown calls many times in the past, evidently decided this was one was too much to handle, he hauled off and cold-cocked DeHaney.

Fights were not uncommon in the AFL, both in the stands and on the field, but attacking an umpire was another story altogether.  Riddle was restrained by his teammates, and removed from the field.  The call, of course, stood as a home run.

Riddle knew he made a mistake and that there would be a price to pay.  He regretted losing his temper and conceded that the umpire wasn‘t totally at fault, he was just inexperienced and not prepared to handle the pressure of the calling a professional game.  What he didn’t expect though, was that this event would light the fuse on already volatile situation. The DeHaney incident had not been the only umpire "attack" of that July:  A couple days later, Dothan catcher, Bob Odenheimer, frustrated with the umpiring in a game, threw his mask in the direction of the plate umpire on at least two occasions.  The arbiter wasn’t hit, but the incident was indicative of the escalating aggressiveness of outbursts directed towards the men in blue. Umpires in the AFL had to be tough, confident men, or at least be imposing enough the control the game.  The attacks to their authority had to be quelled quickly before a real serious assault occurred, so the league‘s umpires decided on a course of action.  On July 25th, Odell "Dolly" Lambert, a former player-manager for Ozark and now Umpire-In-Chief for the league, headed to the Dothan office of league president, George "Dink" Halstead.

Lambert arrived at the league offices accompanied by fellow umpires John Carbo, Oscar Mellborn, and Tom Simon.  Lambert‘s tone was direct:  He demanded the immediate suspension of both Riddle and Odenheimer.  Further, Lambert made it clear to Halstead that enough was enough, and if action was taken right away, the umpires were prepared to walk off the field at that evening’s games. Halstead, not fond of being pressured and already weary from a month’s worth of crisis management keeping the barely solvent league above water, refused to allow the umpires to dictate policy to him. Halstead told Lambert to go ahead and strike.  He stated flatly that Lambert’s umpires were "meddling in something that is the league president’s business and not theirs".  He added that he would not be forced into action "by any such high pressure tactics".   Halstead told the crew that he had already ruled on the matters, but he refused to say what action would be taken, except that he sent his report to minor league czar, George Troutman.  The umpires left empty-handed and angry, and Halstead went into attack mode.

Halstead’s first volley was fired with the help of the Dothan press, to which he reported that he had already signed four new umpires to replace the ones who had made the strike threat, further, he claimed to have two more umpires ready to sign on which would mean a complete revamping of the league’s umpiring crew. He also had consulted George Trautman, who evidently gave Halstead the go-ahead to handle the situation as Halstead saw fit.

Lambert’s crew found out about their threatened dismissal, and counter-attacked by handing in their resignations, effective dated August 1st.  Halstead, for some strange reason, decided that the best course of action at this point was to leave for a week’s vacation and assigned the task of resolving the issue to   League Vice-President Rip Hewes.  Evidently, this was a surprise to Hewes, for he told Lambert and the umpires that knew nothing of what had transpired and he would not take any action in Halstead‘s absence.  

Meanwhile, George Trautman, sensing a major debacle in the making, called on the Minor League Representative for the region, Stuart X. Stephenson, to get involved in the situation.  Stephenson, who was general manager of the Montgomery Grays at the time, was very familiar with the AFL and it’s problems:  Only three weeks earlier, Trautman had sent Stephenson to save the league from destroying itself over the Ottis Johnson beaning.  Stephenson, a former journalist for the Montgomery Advertiser, arrived in Dothan to preside over a hearing with the umpires, Riddle, and Odenheimer.  He quickly found out that the strike and suspensions weren’t the only critical issues affecting the league: The Enterprise Boll Weevils, missing payroll and out of money, couldn’t bear the financial threat of a lost gate due to a strike and announced to Stephenson that they were folding, effective immediately.  While Halstead hid from the mountain of problems plaguing the league, Hewes and Stephenson did their best to deal with the strike, suspensions, and the very real possibility that the other league owners may decide to throw in the towel also, rather than continue as a five-team circuit.  Stephenson admitted to the press that all six of the league’s teams were financially unstable, and the possibility of a permanent suspension of play was very real.  As daunting as the financial problems were, Stephenson first had to resolve the umpiring issue.  He quickly released five of the league’s six umpires, retaining only Earl Upton. He then fined Odenheimer $30, even though there was no real evidence that Odenheimer had thrown his mask with intent to hit the umpire.  No suspension was levied against Odenheimer, but Riddle, who admitted that he struck DeHaney, would not be let off as easily:  Stephenson recommended to Commissioner Trautman that Riddle be suspended indefinitely, which turned out to be the rest of the season.  Warren Jones was selected to replace Riddle as manager of the Eagles.  With those issues resolved and Halstead back from his vacation, the business of keeping the six team league afloat was resolved by an agreement between the league and the Enterprise ownership to keep the team going by moving all their remaining home games to Eufaula.  The team’s name went unchanged with the hope that they might resolve their problems and return to Enterprise for the next season.   As the league stumbled to the end of it’s season, rumors started to circulate that a new Class B league might be forming, and Tallahassee, Pensacola, Panama City, Dothan, and a team or two from the recently defunct Southeastern League would participate.  Given that the AFL barely survived and the more prominent Southeastern League had already failed two years prior, the suggestion that more money be poured into baseball in this region was pure folly.   Halstead, aware of the rumors and himself pushing for a reorganized AFL with fewer veterans and lower salaries, finally realized that it was time to "pursue other interests" and resigned. 

The league had a new umpire-in-chief:  Taking over for Dolly Lambert was none other than Clarence "Shovel" Hodge.  Hodge added yet another feather to his baseball cap, having played, managed, and umpired for almost 50 years.  It would be a very short tenure in this new position though, because Hodge was given the job of League President before the next season started.  It was a position he would hold for the next three years.