1953 AFL SEASON
The fourteenth AFL season was the first
in which an equal number of teams were located in Florida and
Alabama. Headland and Ozark ceased operations and Fort Walton
Beach, Florida, and Andalusia/Opp tooks their places. Andalusia
was returning to the league after a short absence, but this time
they would share their home games with neighboring Opp, Alabama.
The league continued to replace fairly good sized markets (Enterprise,
Ozark, Tallahassee) with tiny ones like Graceville Fort Walton
Beach, and Opp. Fort Walton Beach was not much of a town in the
1950’s but nearby Eglin Air Force Base meant that a fairly steady
supply of miltary baseball fans would be around to purchase tickets.
The 1953 season was the second in which scorer records would
be lost (the first being the disasterous 1951 campaign). Only
seven games worth of records were missing from the Graceville
scorer, so it was decided that the records would be considerd
complete. Panama City was the pennant winner, and once again,
the pennant winner made an early exit in the playoffs. The Fliers
were eliminated by Dothan in the first round because Dothan had
the league’s best pitcher, Spencer « Onion » Davis. Davis
dominated the league, winning 22 games during the regular season,
and was able to pitch in enough key games to take the newly renamed
Rebels to the playoff title. The Dothan franchise was the league’s
champion for the third time in four seasons, and the fifth time
overall. No franchise in AFL history would ever have anywhere
near as much success as Dothan.
Chase Riddle, Panama City’s player manager, had one of the
best seasons in league history. Riddle batted .411 with 25 homers,
125 RBIs, and 44 stolen bases. Riddle just missed the Triple
Crown (Chuck Quimby had 27 homers), and struck out only 37 times
in 436 at bats. He even pitched in 14 games but without much
success.
Chuck Quimby managed 16 games at Fort Walton before moving
on to a player-only position at Graceville, where he batted .359
with 27 homers.
Dave Hutchinson, Panama City pitcher, had 5 balks during the
season.
Gene Wolfe, an 18 year old pitcher for Fort Walton, no-hit
the Dothan Rebels on June 15th, 3-0.
No future major leaguers played in the AFL in 1953.
Spencer « Onion » Davis was was the most dominant
pitcher in the league. He went 22-4, with an incredible 1.21
ERA.
ELSEWHERE IN 1953
Former big leaguer, Karl Spooner (1958 Dothan) strikesout
63 batters in 39 innings while pitching for Pueblo in the Western
League.
| Panama City | 69 | 47 | 2 | .595 | ** |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graceville | 64 | 53 | 1 | .547 | 5.5 |
| Dothan | 59 | 58 | 1 | .504 | 10.5 |
| Andalusia/Opp | 56 | 60 | 0 | .483 | 13 |
| Fort Walton Beach | 54 | 63 | 0 | .462 | 15.5 |
| Eufaula | 48 | 69 | 0 | .410 | 21.5 |
1953 Season
Won
Lost
Tie
PCT
GB
| 1953 Shaugnnessey Playoffs |
|---|
| Dothan defeated Panama City, 4 games to 3 |
| Graceville defeated Andalusia/Opp, 4 games to 1 |
| Dothan defeated Graceville, 4 games to 3 |
| Team | Attendance | AVG * |
|---|---|---|
| Panama City | 43,150 | 719 |
| Dothan | 35,799 | 596 |
| Graceville | 35,687 | 594 |
| Andalusia | 20,981 | 349 |
| Eufaula | 23,269 | 321 |
| Fort Walton Beach | 17,799 | 281 |
| Totals: | ||
| Playoffs: | 29,648 | ** |
| All star game | 4,190 | ** |
The average is based on 60 home games in a 120 game season.
Most teams didn’t play the full 12 0 games.
171,783
2,863
| Team Fielding | G | DP | PB | PO | A | E | PCT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Panama City | 118 | 109 | 17 | 3080 | 1271 | 220 | .952 |
| Andalusia | 114 | 79 | 14 | 2957 | 1128 | 230 | .947 |
| Eufaula | 114 | 95 | 16 | 2920 | 1236 | 235 | .946 |
| Fort Walton Beach | 116 | 96 | 28 | 3043 | 1304 | 263 | .943 |
| Graceville | 111 | 79 | 9 | 2890 | 1194 | 275 | .937 |
| Dothan | 117 | 98 | 26 | 3045 | 1327 | 326 | .931 |
| Team Name | Managers | Batting Leader | Home Run Leader | RBI Leader | Wins Leader | Losses Leader | ERA Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Julius McDougald | Roy Sinquefield .346 | Roy Sinquefield 11 | Marv Sheridan 96 | Roy Sinquefield 14 | Al Tyler 16 | Roy Sinquefield 1.89 | |
| Ray Wilson | Ray Wilson .323 | Jimmy Cantrell 9 | Jimmy Cantrell 106 | Spencer Davis 22 | Al Sanders 6 | Spencer Davis 1.21 | |
| Blackie Connell / Bill Buchanan / Dutch Konneman |
Blackie Connell .319 | Bill Buchanan 19 | Bill Buchanan 74 | James Ruiz 10 | Roy Welch 10 | James Ruiz 3.62 | |
| Chuck Quimby / Ralph Hendrix / John Streza | |||||||
| Holt Milner | Chuck Quimby .359 | Chuck Quimby 27 | Chuck Quimby 111 | Gene Berbesia 15 | Jack Weeks 13 | Wayne Berg 3.68 | |
| Chase Riddle | Chase Riddle .411 | Chase Riddle 25 | Chase Riddle 125 | Tom Springer 18 | Tom Springer 12 | Don Keith 3.52 |
| Team Offense | G | AB | R | H | TB | 2 | 3 | HR | SH | SB | BB | HB | SO | RBI | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Panama City | 118 | 4103 | 859 | 1210 | 1678 | 204 | 60 | 48 | 79 | 213 | 626 | 49 | 567 | 713 | 966 | .295 |
| Dothan | 117 | 3983 | 710 | 1075 | 1464 | 144 | 58 | 43 | 89 | 142 | 572 | 42 | 590 | 596 | 935 | .270 |
| Graceville | 111 | 3788 | 687 | 1008 | 1439 | 164 | 42 | 61 | 69 | 62 | 665 | 41 | 688 | 592 | 986 | .266 |
| Andalusia | 114 | 3955 | 672 | 1048 | 1375 | 151 | 43 | 30 | 40 | 112 | 583 | 58 | 499 | 545 | 1000 | .265 |
| Fort Walton Beach | 116 | 4033 | 717 | 1064 | 1534 | 169 | 47 | 69 | 35 | 110 | 643 | 38 | 705 | 592 | 974 | .264 |
| Eufaula | 114 | 3912 | 648 | 1033 | 1425 | 155 | 45 | 49 | 68 | 72 | 563 | 53 | 652 | 538 | 1009 | .264 |
| 1953 Hitting Leaders | Name | Team | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Runs Scored | Chase Riddle | Panama City | 131 |
| Hits | Chase Riddle | Panama City | 179 |
| Doubles | Wayland Goza | Panama City | 35 |
| Triples | Jimmy Cantrell | Dothan | 16 |
| Home Runs | Chuck Quimby | Fort Walton / Graceville | 27 |
| Sacrifices | Bill Farrar Frank Hartman |
Panama City Graceville |
14 |
| Bases On Balls | Chuck Quimby | Fort Walton / Graceville | 133 |
| RBIs | Chase Riddle | Panama City | 125 |
| Stolen Bases | Chase Riddle | Panama City | 44 |
| Strikeouts | Juaquin Toyo Van Howell Tom Barton |
Dothan / Graceville Fort Walton Beach Panama City |
87 |
| Batting Average | Chase Riddle | Panama City | .411 |
| 1953 Pitching Leaders | Name | Team | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Games | Gene Berbesia Tom Springer |
Graceville Panama City |
36 |
| Innings | Tom Springer | Panama City | 235 |
| Wins | Spencer Davis | Dothan | 22 |
| Loses | Al Tyler | Andalsuia | 16 |
| Win Percentage | Spencer Davis | Dothan | .846 |
| Strikeouts | Spencer Davis | Dothan | 196 |
| Shutouts | Spencer Davis | Dothan | 4 |
| ERA | Spencer Davis | Dothan | 1.21 |
| Runs | Jack Weeks | Graceville | 147 |
| Earned Runs | Al Tyler | Andalusia | 119 |
| Bases On Balls | Al Tyler | Andalusia | 195 |
| Hits | Gene Berbesia | Graceville | 254 |
| Hit Batsmen | Austin McCluskey Gene Wolfe |
Fort Walton Beach Fort Walton Beach |
13 |
| Wild Pitches | Gene Wolfe | Fort Walton Beach | 20 |
The 1953 All Star Game
The league scheduled their twelveth All star game for June 22nd.
The game was played in Panama City, and featured an excellent
pitching performance by Panama City hurler, Dave Hutchinson.
Hutchinson pitched 2-hit ball for 8 innings before tiring in
the 9th and giving up 5 runs.
| LEAGUE ALL-STARS | TEAM | POS | PANAMA CITY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Julius McDougald | Andalusia | MGR | Chase Riddle |
| Reed Chadwick | Andalusia | C | Wayland Goza |
| Carey Philpot | Graceville | C | ** |
| Blackie Connell | Eufaula | 1st | Joe Pearce |
| Ralph Prince | Eufaula | 2nd | Bob Phillips |
| Rafael Rodriguez | Fort Walton Beach | SS | Joe Ellison |
| Jimmy Cantrell | Dothan | 3rd | Ed Richardson |
| Marv Heckert | Graceville | Of | Bill Farrar |
| Van Howell | Fort Walton Beach | Of | Chase Riddle |
| Marv Sheridan | Dothan / Andalsuia | Of | Tom Barton |
| Julius McDougald | Andalusia | Ut | ** |
| John Streza | Fort Walton Beach | Ph | ** |
| Ray Wilson | Dothan | Ph | ** |
| Spencer Davis | Dothan | P | Dave Hutchinson |
| Gene Wolfe | Fort Walton Beach | P | ** |
| Mike Henson | Graceville | P | ** |
| Al Tyler | Andalusia | P | ** |
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