Augusta Tigers

South Atlantic League (1936-1942, 1946-1952 & 1955-1968)

Background

The Augusta Tigers were a long-running minor league baseball club that played intermittently in this northeast Georgia city from 1936 through 1958.  The club originally formed in 1936 as part of a six-team revival of the South Atlantic League, a venerable Class B loop that closed in 1930 at the onset of the Great Depression. Augusta previously had a Sally League team during the 1920’s that was known as the ‘Tygers’.

Augusta’s ‘Tigers’ nickname sometimes connoted the ball club’s membership in the farm system of Major League Baseball’s Detroit Tigers. But not always.  August had three different tie-ups with Detroit between 1936 and 1958, but also served as a New York Yankees farm club on two different occasions, a Washington Senators affiliate for one summer and played as an independent club for much of the early 1950’s.

Interruptions

Augusta and the rest of the Sally League went dark for three seasons (1943-1945) at the height of World War II.

In November 1952, after winning the U.S. presidential election, President-elect Dwight Eisenhower vacationed in Augusta.  Two months later, Augusta dropped the Tigers name and announced the club would be known as the Augusta ‘Ikes’, in honor of the President’s nickname. But community opposition to the idea – suggesting it demeaned the office of the President – forced the club to backtrack just a week later. The team ended up playing as the Augusta Rams for the 1953 and 1954 seasons.

In 1955, Augusta tied up with the Detroit Tigers for the third and final time. It gave the club a Major League affiliation for the first time since the summer of the 1950. The club dropped the Rams name and became the Augusta Tigers once again. At the end of the 1955 season, the Detroit Tigers purchased the club outright from the local stockholders.

Key Players

• Catcher Ralph Houk (Augusta ’41) made the Majors as a player and won back-to-back World Series as manager of the New York Yankees in 1961 and 1962
• Catcher Tom Yewcic (August ’55) was a two-sport star. He would appear in just a single Major League game with Detroit, but enjoyed a long career as a quarterback, punter and flanker for the Boston Patriots of the American Football League and was named to the Patriots’ 1960’s All-Decade Team.
• 18-year old infielder Dick McAuliffe (August ’58) became a three-time American League All-Star for Detroit and a key contributor to the Tigers’ 1968 World Series championship team

Jennings Stadium Tragedy

On May 24th, 1955 the Tigers hosted the Montgomery Rebels at Jennings Stadium. Midway through the Tuesday evening contest, 60 mile per hour winds and rain suddenly rolled through Augusta. The concrete outfield wall at Jennings Stadium was already in poor condition. In recent weeks, stadium officials had roped off sections of the crumbling wall.²Kirby, Bill. “Wall collapse at old ballpark in 1955 resulted in tragedy”. The Chronicle (Augusta, GA). July 16, 2011

Three young black men and boys outside of the stadium, David Thomas (age 12), Sam Madison (age 13), and Wee Bennett (age 25) sought shelter from the Tornado-like winds in the shadow of the wall. Instead, the wall collapsed upon them, killing Bennett instantly and the two young boys not long afterwards in the hospital.

Demise

During Augusta’s final run as a Detroit farm team from 1955 to 1958, the Tigers provided Augusta with outstanding teams. Augusta won the Sally League championship in 1955 and notched back-to-back pennants in 1957 and 1958, though they would lose in the playoffs both seasons. Attendance, however, was poor. Shortly after the 1958 season concluded, Detroit announced it would not operate in Augusta again in 1959 and formed a new tie-up with Augusta’s Sally League rival the Knoxville Smokies. Augusta disbanded as a result.

After a three-year absence, Augusta got a new South Atlantic League club in 1962, the Augusta Yankees. The Yanks stayed for two summers, but left town after the 1963 season.

Jennings Stadium was demolished in 1964.

Augusta Tigers Shop

Links

South Atlantic League Media Guides & Roster Books

South Atlantic League Programs (1904-1963)

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