Americus Travelers - Moose's Blog

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Welcome to Moose's Blog. I'm Kenny Harrill, webmaster for the Americus Travelers Baseball Club. Here, I'll be sharing commentary on the current season plus memories of Travelers past and even some of my own personal insights on different things from time to time. Enjoy!

June 22, 2014 - Coming Home

As of this writing, the season record is 21-7-1. The spring/summer 2014 has produced some outstanding results tournament wise. The Travelers ended up winning the Consolation Flight of the Atlanta Summer Super NIT, the Red Flight Championship in the Round Tripper at Monroe and, just recently, they were runner up in the USSSA State Tournament in LaGrange. Still to come is the USSSA World Series, which will be in Orange Beach, Alabama in July.

Up next - the team is coming home to Americus for the Travelers Weekend Challenge. The tournament will take place June 28-29, with games at both the Regional Park and historic Thomas Bell Stadium.

With this edition of the blog, I thought a visit in time would be in order. Let us go back - way back - to 1938, and the beginning of an era:

Thomas L. Bell Memorial Stadium - The Beginning Of An Era

The following article was published in the Tri-County News, Thursday, July 14, 1938.
New Ball Park Is End Of Mayor's Five-Year Dream
FIVE YEARS AGO, TOM BELL BEGAN WORK FOR PARK

City and County Officials Gave First Financial Aid; Hundreds Have helped Toward Completion of $20,000 Ball Plant

Tuesday was the end of a perfect day for Tom Bell.

For five years, almost alone, he has preached a sermon of sports that frequently reached proportions of evangelism in its enthusiasm.

Tom Bell, the mayor, along with maybe 2,500 others witnessed a game of baseball Tuesday in a park that will seat three thousand ultimately, and maybe more.

And what a game!

"It was big league ball," declared the mayor and dozens of others shouted "amen." A nine-inning game of one to nothing, with Albany on the losing end! That was even beyond Tom Bell's fondest dreams as the opener for the new diamond.

But it is not the game, nor the 1900 who paid to see it, that interests Tom Bell most.

His dream was a baseball plant second to none for a town the size of the one over which he presides as his honor, the mayor.

"For five years I have dreamed and talked and worked for a professional baseball diamond and seats and bleachers and dressing rooms," Mr. Bell said Wednesday. "The plant is not yet complete, but within three weeks everything will be.

"The directors of the ball club have borrowed $3,500 on individual notes of thirty-five persons and we have secured a $2,000 grant from WPA, making $5,500 which is to be used in lighting the field for night games, the first of which we expect to play in Augusta.

There yet are to be built dressing rooms and showers for the players, a ladies rest room and the bleachers. When all of this is completed, Americus will have a baseball plant easily worth $20,000," said Mr. Bell.

In his long fight for the park, Mr. Bell said his first real success came when city council and Sumter county commissioners became really interested, and showed their interest by liberal appropriations for the Community Center.

"After that, it was comparatively easy," said the mayor. "Americus has at least 500 dyed-the-wool baseball fans, most of whom have given me their moral support and financial aid."

The baseball field is only part of the athletic center visioned several years ago by the mayor. The basketball shell or recreation hall, already completed, was in his scheme. Tennis courts, probably a small golf course, running tracks and buildings for county fair and other purposes are planned and in time will become a fact in the community life of this city and county.

Americus baseball grounds and the Americus club are under the management of a board of nine directors. They are:

W. T. Anderson, Leslie, president; James W. Smith, Americus, treasurer; J. R. Blair, Americus, secretary; Alton Carter, Plains; L D. Slappey, Americus; Harry Dixon, Ellaville, and W. P. McArthur, Phile Jones and Zera Littlejohn, of Americus.

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I'm not going to rehash the team history; you can visit elsewhere on the website to check that out. But I do want to move the calendar just a little ahead before we return to the present day. The time was July 1997 and an 18 and under group of Major boys traveled to Americus to take part in the GRPA State Tournament, held at Bell Stadium. That would mark my first visit to Americus. The championship game wound up Americus vs Wayne County. It went 12 innings and the Travelers took the title to the house with a 5-4 win. Needless to say, I came away impressed with the team, the facilities, and Americus itself. I made the decision that I wanted to return in 1998 to see maybe a single game or double header on a weekend.

Well, we know what happened from there. One double header led to a return trip just scant days later for the team's first USSSA State Tournament. Americus won. The rest is history. I wasn't there for the first pitch in 1995, but I was on hand in Gastonia, North Carolina for what was thought at the time to be the team's last pitch. Americus won USSSA Nationals and went out on the highest note possible.

Six years later, the team is playing again. Just check out the Events Capsule page. This group is really making a name for itself, but then that just seems to be par for the course.

I'm looking forward to being on hand for the Travelers Weekend Challenge, and looking forward to being with my favorite team once again. See you at the games!

Ciao for now!

Kenny Harrill ("Moose")

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