The Alabama Florida League Web Site

Bill Israel --- Good steady pitcher that gave a good performance every time he went to the mound. Developed a fair knuckle ball that he used as an out pitch in tight situations.

      W   L   ERA
1946 12 11   3.87
1947 16 12   3.99

Bob Benish --- Had a long minor league career from 1938-1952. Played in ten different leagues during this span. Played with Troy in the Alabama State League from 1946-1948. Benish was the ultimate showman as well as a terrific power hitting first baseman and outstanding pitcher. His famous split-stretch while catching a throw on a close play at first was very entertaining to the crowd and always brought applause. In 1946 he led the league with a .355 batting average. Bob once hit a tremendous blast that cleared a 90-foot light standard 320 feet from home plate and landed across an adjacent street breaking the windshield of a car 60 feet inside the parking lot.   A blast of over 400 feet was a monster shot in any league in 1946.

Benish managed the Troy team when they were a Detroit Tiger farm team. The Troy Tigers won the league championship in 1948 with Bob at the helm.

         BA   HR   RBI   W   L   ERA
1946   .355   14   103   6   2   3.39
1947   .287    8   100 11   7   3.47
1948   .260    5    73

Eldon Hill --- Played one season with Troy in the Alabama State League in 1946. Led the league in games caught.

         BA   HR   RBI
        .254   5    60

Emil Bozick --- Played in Alabama State League with Troy in 1946 and 1947. Solid ball player and good clean up hitter that made contact with low strikeout ratio. Good RBI man. Led the league in hits and tied for the lead in triples in 1946.

         BA   HR   RBI
1946   .354    6    97
1947   .328    6    83

Frank Trificano --- Played pro ball in five leagues from 1941-1949. Was infielder for Troy in the Alabama State League in 1946. A great fan favorite with outgoing personality. One night while playing shortstop he speared a hard line drive with his bare hand, dislocating a couple of fingers. This drew a large crowd of players from both teams around the shortstop. Out of the crowd stepped Bob Benish and yelled loudly to the bat boy , “Bring a cup of water.” As the bat boy started on the field, he yelled “Bring two cups.” The crowd sat in silence, not knowing what to expect and thinking Trificano must be in a bad way. When the batboy arrived with the water, Benish took about three steps away from the players crowded around the injured ball player and promptly downed both cups of water. This brought a roar of laughter from the crowd and diffused the stressful atmosphere that hung over the ball park as the PA announcer chimed in with “Way to go, Bob.”

         BA   HR   RBI
       .248          24

Jim Gilbert --- Of all the players that came through the Troy system, Jim Gilbert was the all time crowd pleaser. Famous for his headfirst sliding catches in centerfield and tremendous throws to nail advancing runners, he was the one the crowd came to see play ball. He played in the Alabama State League for Troy, Alabama in 1946 and 1947. He had a six-year career in the Alabama State League and Cotton League, averaging .328 at the plate. His last two years (’50)(’51) at Natchez, he averaged .349, 18 HRs and 108 RBIs. His career ended at that point, the reason unknown.

         BA   HR   RBI
1946   .333    4    62
1947   .334    8    98

Jim Murray --- A member of the 1946 Troy Trojans of the Alabama State League. Jim served in the South Pacific in WWII and had not fully recovered from the experience when he joined the Troy club. It took most of the ’46 season for him to recover to his natural playing weight. Although his performance suffered somewhat, he was an everyday player with the heart of a lion. Jim married a local Troy girl, and he then moved away after the 1946 season. He played briefly in Pennsylvania in 1947.

          BA   HR   RBI
1946    .176    3    42

Kenny King --- A short, stocky infielder that played pro ball from 1939-1953 in nine different leagues. He could be counted on to be in the lineup every day. King played in the Alabama State League for Troy, Alabama in 1946 and 1947, then for Ozark, Alabama in the Ala.-Fla. League in 1951.

          BA   HR   RBI
1946    .258    3    35
1947    .277    3    50
1951    .260    0    17

Norman Deweese --- Played pro ball from 1935-1947. Two years were spent in the Pacific Coast League as a Triple A outfielder. He wound down his career as the manager of the Alabama State League Troy Trojans in 1946. Gruff, but fun loving, he was always doing something to please the fans. He was a first class umpire “baiter.” In the 1946 All-Star game played in Troy, Deweese, who was the manager, put himself in as a pinch hitter in the 8th inning. He led off with a pinch hit homerun and followed it up with another in the same inning when the team batted around. This may possibly be the only time in Alabama State League or Ala.-Fla. League history that a pinch hitter hit two homeruns in the same inning.

           BA   HR   RBI
1946     .298    6    28

Pete Stamos --- A pitcher and outfielder that played with Troy, Alabama in the Alabama State League in 1946 and with Thomasville in the Georgia-Florida League in 1947, 1948 and 1949. He performed mainly as a pitcher, but was an adequate outfielder. Easy going, he was a big favorite with the young boys that frequented the games and hung around the ballpark.

          BA   HR   RBI   W   L   ERA
1946     .218   3    21 12   7   4.06
1947                      8   2   1.83
1948     .370   1    15   2   1   4.02
1949.     255   3    21

Roy (Boney) Lee --- A Troy, Alabama native who played one year with the Troy Trojans of the Alabama State League. A stick- thin lefthander that could not throw a straight pitch if he tried (and much of the time really wasn’t sure where it was going). His fast ball would naturally move, breaking twice on the way to the plate. It was as if he was throwing snakes at the batter, and his wildness always kept them on their toes. Great potential that could never be harnessed.

           W   L   ERA
1946       7   9   5.19

Wilbur Hester --- A Troy, Alabama native who served as batboy for the 1939 Troy Trojans of the Alabama-Florida League and later fulfilled his dream of playing pro ball with Troy and Greenville of the Alabama State League in 1946 and 1947. He was a catcher and outfielder with a strong arm. He was married at home plate in the Greenville Ball Park while a member of the 1947 league championship team.

Unknown Troy Trojans