THOMASVILLE — In 1952, minor league baseball again returned the the Rose City in the form of the Thomasville Tomcats. The Tomcats were an independent team and though they finished in sixth place and only won 66 games that season, the team featured some great players like Ken Robinette, who led the league in batting average (.352) and hits (176). The Tomcats also fielded some major league talent like player/manager Frank Lucchesi, who went on to manage the Phillies, Rangers, and Cubs, and underused Johnny Schaive, who had a 14 year pro baseball career and spent time in the majors with the Washington Senators.
The Tomcats wouldn’t stay cats for long, however, as the very next year they ceased to be an independent ball club. The Thomasville minor league team was picked up and named the minor league affiliate for the Brooklyn Dodgers. While legends like Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese were tearing it up in Brooklyn, Ultus Alvarez and James Stephenson were giving Thomasville one of its most successful baseball seasons they would ever see. {
The Thomasville Dodgers won a record 90 games in 1953 and took the pennant ahead of the Brunswick Pirates. Second year ball player Alvarez led the league in RBIs with 123, while the Dodgers pitching staff was lights out. The Dodgers on the bump in ’53 had a combined ERA of 3.31 and all but one of the Dodgers 10 man bullpen finished the season with a winning record. They brought in over 41,000 fans in 1953 and after cruising past the Albany Cardinals in six games, the Dodgers faced second place Brunswick, who was ready for a fight. The Dodgers and the Pirates battled in the championship series, but, just like their counter parts in Brooklyn, Thomasville fell in a seven game series. Just one game away from Thomasville’s second ever title.
The Dodger 1954 season, began with a bad omen that let the fans of Thomasville know that ’54 would mark the downturn of minor league baseball in Thomasville. On April 22, 1954, the Dodgers traveled to Waycross for their home opener. The Bears had a new pitcher making his debut, a rookie named John Scroggs. In his first ever pro baseball appearance, Scroggs pitched a no hitter against the Dodgers and marked the beginning of a decline in the club’s play.
Over the next three years, the Dodgers didn’t have winning season and they saw attendance decline significantly. But, in 1957, Thomasville made a comeback. Their first winning season in three years ended with a record of 71-68. It was barely a winning season, but it was one. Surprisingly, they were able to do it with three different managers at the helm, though one of them, a scout for Brooklyn named Leon Hamilton, only managed the team for eight days between manager Ruby Ruffer and a man only listed in sources as “Wright”.
They finished third in the league and Siebert Scott led all league pitchers in wins with 20 and future major leaguer Larry Burright led the league in runs with 115.
Unfortunately, there were no playoffs that year for the Georgia-Florida league and instead the top two teams of the regular season played in a five game series for the title. The Thomasville Dodgers were 13 games back in third place.
Unfortunately for the Dodgers, the momentum they were thought to be carrying wasn’t there. The ’58 season was abysmal. They won only 38 games and lost 89 finishing dead last in the league and finished a remarkable 48 games out of first place. But something may have been distracting the players. Many of their futures were uncertain as the 1958 season would be the Georgia-Florida League’s last.
The league folded after the 1958 season and many wondered if they’d seen the last of professional baseball in Thomasville, Georgia.