REAL LIFE IN 1951
April
Yours truly, EC, grew up in Mobile, New Orleans and also spent a lot of time in Northwest Alabama in the Tri-Cities area, Florence, Sheffield and Tuscumbia.
Living in Mobile and New Orleans I fell in love with the Southern Association, the Mobile Bears and the New Orleans Pelicans... I got to see many games in the 1950s... also completely devoured the sport pages of the Mobile Press-Register and the New Orleans Times-Picayune... the Tri-Cities Daily and the Florence Times, too... that's how EC got educated.
Here is an article about the SA on opening day, 1951... it gives a little bit of insight into the inner workings of minor league baseball... the players you started the season were not the ones you usually ended up with... still there was some continuity year-to-year... some career minor leaguers would play for a certain teams for several years... they played baseball in the spring and summer, then went home and got an off-season job in the fall and winter... you could make decent money in the Southern Association, but it couldn't be your only job.
I really kick myself for not taking advantage of talking to the Major Leaguers like Luke Appling, Rip Sewell and Dixie Walker... but, hey, a 9-year-old is not aware of his big world... my world was much smaller and my interests were limited... I realized this in later years and regret it... I worked as a ball boy and clubhouse attendant for the Mobile Bears for several years in '56 and '57... my, oh, my... that was a wonderful time... got to meet and hang around future major leaguers Gary Bell, Bill Dailey, Dick Brown and Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew.
