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| Dixie Series titles (2) |
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The Atlanta Crackers were Minor League Baseball teams based in Atlanta, Georgia, between 1901 and 1965. The Crackers were Atlanta's home team until the Atlanta Braves moved from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1966.
Atlanta played its first Southern Association game (against the Nashville Baseball Club) on Saturday, April 26, 1902 (Memorial Day) in Piedmont Park before a crowd of around 3,500. For 60 years (until 1961), the Crackers were part of the Class AA Southern Association, a period during which they won more games than any other Association team, earning the nickname the "Yankees of the Minors". In 1962, the Association disbanded. [1] Then, the former Miami Marlins, a Class AAA International League team that had spent 1961 playing in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Charleston, West Virginia, moved to Atlanta and adopted the Crackers name.
Originally the top affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, the AAA Crackers spent the 1964 season as the Minnesota Twins' top affiliate. Then, in 1965, the Milwaukee Braves became the Crackers' parent club. That team had bought the Crackers as part of their planned move to Atlanta in 1965; under MLB rules of the day, ownership of a minor league team also carried the major league rights to that city. However, an injunction forced the Braves to play a lame-duck season in Milwaukee. The Braves finally moved to Atlanta in 1966, and moved the Crackers to Richmond, Virginia, as the Richmond Braves. In a return home of sorts, the team moved to Gwinnett County, a northeastern suburb of Atlanta, in 2009 as the Gwinnett Braves, now the Gwinnett Stripers. Dating back to their time as the Crackers, the Stripers have been the Braves' top affiliate for 57 seasons, the longest-running affiliation agreement in Triple-A.
The Crackers won the Dixie Series, a postseason interleague championship between the champions of the Southern Association and the Texas League, in 1938 and 1954. [2] [3]
The Crackers played in Ponce de Leon Park from 1907 until a fire on September 9, 1923, destroyed the all-wood stadium. [4] Spiller Field (a stadium later also called Ponce de Leon Park), became their home starting in the 1924 season; it was named in honor of a wealthy businessman who paid for the new concrete-and-steel stadium. [5] That new park was unusual because it was constructed around a magnolia tree that became part of center field. Balls landing in the tree remained in play, until Earl Mann took over the team in 1947 and had the outfield wall moved in about fifty feet. [6] The Crackers played their last season in the newly built Atlanta Stadium (later known as Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium) in 1965. [1]
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The Crackers were independent of major league farm systems until 1950. They then became a AA affiliate of the Boston/Milwaukee Braves (1950–1958) and Los Angeles Dodgers (1959–1961) during the last decade of the Southern Association's existence. As an International League team, they were the top affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals (1962–63), Minnesota Twins (1964) and the Braves again (1965).
 | This section possibly contains original research .(December 2018) |
According to Tim Darnell, who wrote The Crackers: Early Days of Atlanta Baseball, the origins of the team name is unknown. [7]
Darnell cites several possibilities as to why this name was chosen:
During the period of Reconstruction following the American Civil War, there was also a political party of the same name. Organized in Augusta, Georgia, this party's platform was one of "opposition to Catholics and segregation of blacks". [8]
While now sometimes used as a derogatory term for a white southerner that promotes racism, it is also used as a term of pride by some white southerners to indicate one that is descended from those original settlers of the area. [9]
As in several other cities, Atlanta's local Negro league team was named after the local White league team: the Atlanta Black Crackers joined the Negro Southern League in 1920, and existed until the early 1950s.
Play-by-play announcer Ernie Harwell called Cracker games on the radio from 1943 to 1949 before being traded to Brooklyn Dodgers for catcher Cliff Dapper, [12] the only time an announcer has been traded for a player.
The Richmond Braves were an American minor league baseball club based in Richmond, Virginia, the Triple-A International League affiliate of the Atlanta Braves from 1966 to 2008. Owned by the parent Atlanta club and colloquially referred to as the R-Braves, they played their home games at a stadium called The Diamond on Richmond's Northside built for them in 1985, and before then Parker Field on the same site. The franchise moved to Gwinnett County, Georgia in 2009 to play in the newly built Coolray Field as the Gwinnett Braves.
The Chattanooga Lookouts are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and are named for nearby Lookout Mountain. The team plays its home games at AT&T Field which opened in 2000 and seats 6,340 fans. They previously played at Engel Stadium from 1930 through 1999, with a one-year break in Montgomery, Alabama's Cramton Bowl in 1943.
The Atlanta Black Crackers were a professional Negro league baseball team which played during the early to mid-20th century. They were primarily a minor Negro league team; however in the brief period they played as a major Negro league team, they won the second half pennant of the Negro American League in 1938 but lost the play-off for the overall season title.
The Southern Association' (SA) was a higher-level minor league in American organized baseball from 1901 through 1961. For most of its existence, the Southern Association was two steps below the Major Leagues; it was graded Class B (1901), Class A (1902–1935), Class A1 (1936–1945), and Double-A (1946–1961). Although the SA was known as the Southern League through 1919, the later Double-A Southern League was not descended from the Southern Association; the modern SL came into existence in 1964 as the successor to the original South Atlantic ("Sally") League.
Georgia crackers refer to the original American pioneer settlers of the Province of Georgia, and their descendants.
Ponce de Leon Park ( PONSS də LEE-ən; also known as Spiller Park or Spiller Field from 1924 to 1932, and "Poncey" to locals, was the primary home field for the minor league baseball team called the Atlanta Crackers for nearly six decades. The Crackers played here in the Southern Association and the International League. It was also home of the Atlanta Black Crackers who captured the second half championship of the Negro American League in 1938.
The Richmond Virginians was the name of a minor league baseball franchise that played in Richmond, Virginia, from 1954 through 1964. The team competed at the Triple-A level as members of the International League, and were affiliated with the New York Yankees for nine of their 11 seasons.
The Miami Marlins were a minor league baseball team based in Miami, Florida. The original Marlins were a Triple-A franchise in the International League from 1956 through 1960. The International League team was succeeded by a Single-A team in the Florida State League and today's Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball.
Sports in Georgia include professional teams, Olympic Games contenders and medalists, collegiate teams in major and small-school conferences and associations, and active amateur teams and individual sports.
Coolray Field is a 10,427-seat minor league baseball park in unincorporated Gwinnett County, Georgia. It is the home field of the Gwinnett Stripers, the Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves.
The Gwinnett Stripers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They play their home games at Coolray Field in unincorporated Gwinnett County, Georgia in suburban Atlanta, Georgia. They are named for striped bass in reference to the popularity of fishing in the region.
Matthew Thomas Pagnozzi is an American former professional baseball catcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals, Colorado Rockies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Houston Astros, and Milwaukee Brewers.
Parker Field was a multi-use outdoor stadium in Richmond, Virginia, with a seating capacity of 9,500. The field was built in 1934, as part of the fair grounds, and was named after William H. Parker, who helped with the construction of the field. It was converted for minor league baseball in 1954, replacing Mooers Field.
Jean Carlos Boscán is a former professional baseball catcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs.
Richmond, Virginia, United States, is home to three professional sports teams, though none of which compete in any major professional league. Virginia is the most populated state without a major sports team. In 2008, the Richmond Braves minor league baseball team left for Gwinnett County, Georgia, and was replaced by the Richmond Flying Squirrels in 2010. But now, the Flying Squirrels' owner has threatened to leave Richmond if they do not replace their current stadium, the Diamond. The Richmond Kickers are a non-profit soccer team that plays at City Stadium.
Sports in Atlanta has a rich history, including the oldest on-campus NCAA Division I football stadium, Bobby Dodd Stadium, built in 1913 by the students of Georgia Tech. Atlanta also played host to the second intercollegiate football game in the South, played between the A&M College of Alabama and the University of Georgia in Piedmont Park in 1892; this game is now called the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry. The city hosts college football's annual Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and the Peachtree Road Race, the world's largest 10 km race. Atlanta was the host city for the Centennial 1996 Summer Olympics, and Downtown Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park was built for and commemorates the games.
Blake Thomas Lalli is an American former professional baseball player and current manager for the Reno Aces, the Triple-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, and the Atlanta Braves.
The 1907 Atlanta Crackers season represented the Atlanta Crackers baseball team in the Southern Association and won the team's first league pennant. The team was managed by Billy Smith.
The 1917 Atlanta Crackers season represented the Atlanta Crackers baseball team in the Southern Association and won the league pennant. The team played its games at Ponce de Leon Park, and was managed by Charlie Frank. Roy Moran led the league in hits, and Jake Munch was second. When Moran's house burned down, fans staged a day in his honor. Pitcher Rube Bressler went 25–15.
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