Official Team Colors of Southern Assn Teams in the early 50s

[Eugene Church]

Anyone know the official colors of the Nashville Vols, Chattanooga Lookouts and Little Rock Travelers in the early 1950s.

I say them all play in Mobile, but I'm not sure of their home colors... I just saw their road unis... and but don't remember them very well.

Nashville was a Gray Uniform on the road with Red Lettering... they were a Cincinnati Reds' farm club.

Chattanooga was a Washington Senators' farm team... I vaguely remember that they also had Red Lettering on their road uniform... maybe red and black, but I'm not sure.

Little Rock I don't remember at all... I have seen some jerseys for sale that indicate their home uniform was White with Red and Black lettering... figure the road uni was Gray with Red and Black lettering... don't know the year.

Would appreciate your help.

I found Little Rock on the OOTPB Forum in the Retro Thread... it has the LR and the colors are White uni with Red Lettering... I saw a black and white photo from 1942 that had the LR on it.

I also saw a home jersey with Travelers in Red with Black trim with Black Stripes.

Wikipedia lists the team colors as white, red, black and maroon... I never saw any maroon in the 50s when they played the Mobile Bears.

[BigRed75]

The 50s Vols logo I have is a blue V with VOLS in white and a red background - the colors of the Tennessee flag, so that makes sense.

[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by BigRed75

The 50s Vols logo I have is a blue V with VOLS in white and a red background - the colors of the Tennessee flag, so that makes sense.

I've got it... Txranger gave it to me.

Thanks for the post.

Also have the gray road jersey... the Blue V is on the sleeve... Nashville is on the front of the jersey.

I'll use them for the first few seasons of my Southern Association dynasty replay... I know that by the mid 50s the road uni was gray with red Nashville on it... like the parent team, the Cincy Reds.

Hey, that's your team... the Big Red Machine... although it would be the '70s before they earned that name... in the 50s, they could hit, but didn't have any pitching... in '55 I remember Ted Kluszewski (47 HR/113 RBI), Wally Post (40 HR/109 RBI), Gus Bell (27 HR/104 RBI), Smokey Burgess (15 HR/77 RBI)... some fine hitters... all of them hit .300... Johnny Temple played second base and Roy McMillan was the shortstop... Joe Nuxhall, a lefty, was their only decent pitcher... he went 17-12 that year with a 3.47 ERA for a fifth place club... 75-79 record... 23 and a half games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers.

I remember outfielder Stan Palys playing for Nashville in the mid 50s with a red hat and gray uniform... he hit a ball so hard one night at Hartwell Field in Mobile, nobody knew where it went... he hit a line-drive bullet that hit the scoreboard in left field in nothing flat... it was just "wham... then bam"... We heard a thud, but no one knew where the ball was... apparently the ball hit the scoreboard and bounced back on the field... finally the left fielder picked it up and threw it back in to the infield... what a homer... I've never seen a ball hit so hard.

Palys was a terror in the Southern Association that year... in '57 he hit .359 with 24 homers and 112 RBIs...but Palys only hit .237 in the majors with 10 homers and 40 RBIs in four partial seasons with Cincy and Philly... in four seasons in the Southern he batted .355... he also hit very well in the Pacific Coast League... .303 BA... Palys also did well in the Japanese League late in his career... he played there at ages 34 through 37... batting .275 with 63 homers and 253 RBIs for Tokyo.

I have never seen a better hitter... can't understand why Stan Palys didn't do well in the Majors... he must have had a big hole somewhere in his strike zone or swing and the Big League hurlers found it... probably couldn't hit the breaking stuff... the Mobile players said the only difference between the Southern Association and the Majors was the batters' ability to hit the curve ball and the pitchers ability to throw the breaking stuff and locate it... the Southern hitters could hit a major league fastball, but they couldn't handle the breaking stuff... the Major League pitchers had much better control and command than the Southern Leaguers.

[BigRed75]

Thanks for that post. Obviously the 50s were before my time but my dad and grandpa told me stories about "Big Klu" and how his biceps were so big he had to cut the sleeves off his jerseys.

Joe Nuxhall will always be "the Ol' Lefthander," a Cincinnati boy and the voice of the Reds for many years along with Marty Brennaman. They were the soundtrack of my summer growing up. I still miss Joe.

As far as the Lookouts go, the only logo I have is a block "C", so that's not much help, I'm afraid. It is red, so I would trust your memory on that one.

[Eugene Church]

It looks like No Pepper's Southern Association Collection has it right.

Don't have the colors in the photo, but this is the Chattanooga Lookouts unis in '57 or '58.

I think the cap was Red... with a C on it, trimmed in Black.

Lookouts on the uni were Red with Black trim, I think, but am not sure.

The cap below is from 1937... I think they kept that C into the 50s.

[Eugene Church]

I found these on the internet.

The one on the left was from 1951... that was the Southern Association's 50th season.

[Eugene Church]

I think I will go with the colors Red with Black trim as being the team colors in the late 40s and in the 50s.

However, I did see a jersey with the colors Red with Blue trim that could have been used in the 40s or 50s.

[Eugene Church]

Anyone know anything about the Little Rock Travelers?

I have No Pepper's Red and White set with the lettering LR.

Also have seen Red Travelers Lettering with Black trim on black pinstripes...see it in an earlier post in this thread.