Baseball Memories: The Atlanta Crackers and Ponce de Leon Park

“Of course, there are those who learn after the first few times. They grow out of sports. And there are others who were born with the wisdom to know that nothing lasts. These are the truly tough among us, the ones who can live without illusion, or without even the hope of illusion. I am not that grown-up or up-to-date. I am a simpler creature, tied to more primitive patterns and cycles. I need to think something lasts forever, and it might as well be that state of being that is a game; it might as well be that, in a green field, in the sun.” Bart Giamatti

Ponce de Leon Park, home of the Atlanta CrackersPhoto byGeorgia State University Digital Library

''Baseball introduced me to a higher life. My Atlanta childhood was a mixture of school, Saturday movies, a small radio beside my bed and a glorious minor league team named the Atlanta Crackers.

This was long ago and most of their names have been forgotten. Bob Montag, Dick Donavan, Ebba St. Clair, Ralph “Country” Brown, Chuck Tanner, Eddie Matthews, Art Fowler, Corky Valentine, Pete Whisenut Junior Wooten, Frank DiPrima and their incomparable manager, Whitlow Wyatt.

Home games for the Crackers were at Ponce de Leon ballpark. They were affordable, accessible by public transportation and concessions featured the best tasting ice cream imaginable. Pregame events like barefoot racing (which Country Brown regularly won) and local music performances were preludes to a nine-inning game.

The Crackers dominated the old Southern Association, a Class AA assemblage of baseball rivals from Birmingham, Chattanooga, Mobile, Nashville, Little Rock, Memphis and New Orleans.

Night games with Sunday matinees were broadcast on radio. Baseball, I learned, was perfect for sports announces who mastered hyperbole and knew how to create heroes and villains.

The Crackers were long gone after the debut of the major league Atlanta Braves.

My best source of Crackers baseball trivia is Dr. Dan Parker, a retired Southern Baptist pastor and close friend. Affectionately addressed as “Dr. Dan” he is the only man I know who can recite from memory the starting lineup of the 1954 Atlanta Crackers Dixie League champions.

Minor league home run king Bob Montag went on to become a roaring business success with TV Guide. Immortalized by Lewis Grizzard as having hit the longest home run in history (the ball landed in a fright train coal bin above the centerfield fence and was retrieved in Chattanooga), Montag was introduced to me by the late Frank Spence, who was once a Braves executive. I secured Montag’s autograph.

Once on an early spring day, I was in Summerville, Georgia visiting the legendary folk artist, Reverend Howard Finster. During our conversation, he casually mentioned a local Judge he knew named Country Brown. I promptly drove to the county courthouse and met one of my heroes, the colorful Crackers outfielder who became a magistrate judge.

Of course, I secured another autograph.

The Baseball Magnolia, where Babe Ruth landed a home run baseball.Photo byDown South Today

The Atlanta Crackers brought joy to a skinny boy who memorized things like batting averages and won-loss records and collected baseball cards. I knew exactly what Bart Giamatti meant when he said that “life begins in early spring.”

I still love baseball and my heart is pledged to the Atlanta Braves. Through the Braves, I met the immortal Satchel Paige, Hank Aaron, Eddie Matthews, Chuck Tanner, Phil Neikro, Joe Torre, Dizzy Dean and many more. I witnessed up-close masterful performances by Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver, Juan Marichal, Sandy Koufax, Fernando Valenzuela, Dale Murphey, Rico Carty and dozens more.

It all began at Ponce de Leon Park which was leveled and is now a Home Depot and Whole Foods. One link to the Atlanta Crackers remains: The “Baseball Magnolia,” that Babe Ruth hit a home run into is at the edge of the retail parking lot and thanks to public protests, survived a developer’s axe.

The Grapefruit League, also known as Spring Taining, is ready to make its annual debut. The games resemble those days long ago when baseball was a metaphor for all things good.