Alabama-Florida League – 1956 Season Page

The seventeenth AFL season was another one spent
almost entirely in the panhandle of Florida. Dothan was still
the northern-most team in the league, again the only team located
in Alabama. The other non-Florida team, Donalsonville became
the first team in league history to win the Alabama-Florida League
playoff championship title while not playing in either Alabama
or Florida. The Seminoles’ second season in Donalsonville, Georgia,
was a big success both on and off the field, mostly due to the
aquisition in the off-season of former Crestview player/manager
Nesbit Wilson. Neb had a monumental season, setting the league’s
all-time home run mark with 40 round-trippers. Wilson, one of
the league’s all-time great hitters, batted .349, had 125 RBI’s,
15 stolen bases, 120 walks, and struck out only 41 times. Only
Charlie Grant’s .356 batting average stopped Neb from winning
the Triple Crown. Neal Cobb, who had been in the hunt for the
league’s batting title with Grant and Wilson in the previous
seasons, played in only 29 games due to injury. Cobb batted .379,
but of his 33 hits, only four were for extra bases (all doubles).
Dothan pitcher Billy Beane, while not having enough innings to
win the ERA title, managed to go 10-3 with a 1.19 ERA in 83 innings.
Cobb managed Beane the next season, and said later that Beane’s
stuff was good enough to make it to the big leagues, but Beane
potential never materialized and he ended his career a year later
playing for Kinston in the Carolina league.
The Graceville Oilers best hitter was the 5 foot 9 inch, 150
pound, Byrd Whigham. Whigham, fresh out of Auburn University,
had 26 of his 34 stolen bases by the all star break and was leading
the league with a .368 batting average. The rest of the Oilers
were a fairly low-profile group. They did have two excellent
pitchers in Alex Gargiulo and Bob Aspril. Gargiulo won 17 games
and was second in the league in ERA at 2.77. Aspril won 10 games
and was fourth in the leaguein ERA at 2.88. The Oilers managed
to take the league table, beating out Donalsonville by only a
half game.

Eddie Napoleon, center fielder for Dothan, spent 14
years in the minors and coached for the Cleveland Indians under
fellow AFL alumnus, Doc Edwards.

ELSEWHERE IN 1956