Tombstone
Born: 1967
Died: ?
First Game:
Last Game:
Appalachian League Championships: None
Stadium
Withers Field
Opened: 1948
Ownership & Affiliation
Owner: ?
Major League Affiliation: Cincinnati Reds
Attendance
Background
Wytheville, Virginia hosted short-season minor league baseball in the Appalachian League off and on for 35 years between 1953 and 1989. The 1967 Wytheville Reds were one of the more forgettable entries in the small city’s hardball history (pop. 6,069 in the 1970 census).
Wytheville was a Cincinnati Reds affiliate for just one summer. The city had no pro baseball in either 1966 or 1968. The Reds finished in last place in the 6-team Appy League in 1967 with a 24-40 record.
Only one player on the team, 18-year old pitcher Dave Tomlin, made it to the Majors. Tomlin, who led the 1967 Wytheville squad in wins with 7, pitched parts of 13 seasons in the Bigs between 1972 and 1986.
The Reds left town after the 1967 season. Wytheville next hosted a Washington Senators farm club in 1969.
Eric & Wendy Pastore have photos of what’s left of Withers Field in Wytheville on their excellent Digital Ballparks website. The grandstand remains, but the diamond was converted into a public park in 1993.
Wytheville Reds Shop
Editor's Pick
Appalachian League Baseball
Where Rookies Rise
By Allen LaMountain
Long-time Appy League beat writer Allen LaMountain wrote this exhaustive chronicle of the Rookie circuit in 2014, offering a history of each city in the circuit and profiles of dozens of the future Major League stars and Hall-of Famers who got their first taste of pro ball in places like Bluefield, Elizabethton, Johnson City and Kingsport.
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In Memoriam
Wytheville Reds field manager Scott Breeden passed away on February 21, 2006 at age 68.
Links
Withers Field on DigitalBallparks.com
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One Response
I played for the Wytheville Reds in 1967. Good times