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Previous display: 06. 1920s
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07. 1930s

“My early neighborhood was called Fifeville which ran near Ridge Street…. We used to play lots of baseball. The pasture doubled as a baseball/football field. We also had a golf course, which we kept up. Some people felt the pasture provided the best ‘greens’ though, because the cows ate the grass…. The people in the neighborhood were particularly interested in sports. Boys my age kept track of all the baseball and football players. People were poor and didn’t have the best kind of baseball equipment—broken bats were often taped together…. Areas just outside our neighborhood that were important were Ridge Street and Belmont. This is because there was competition between the neighborhoods in respect to sports.”—Francis Fife

“In the late 30s we used to play in Fife’s Cow Pasture (sometimes we used dried pats for bases) or further up the street in Brook’s pasture. This was where Buford School is now. There was a hill between King and Grove on Spring Street where we played softball. The Church had wire protecting the windows. The rule was if you had a ball you were on the team!”—Joe Bingler

“Where the city yard is now [off 4th street], was known as ‘Harrison’s Field.’ We used to sleigh ride there and also play football and baseball. We did the same things all other kids did. We improvised things.”—William C. Jackson

“At first, the Meade Avenue field where the Charlottesville Athletics played was a bare bones operation. Then there was a board fence with paid advertisements on it. They had uniforms when it was an up-and-coming team. A married couple had a concession stand. I think they had an ice-cream parlor downtown. There were regular bleachers; families came to games. Some of the players were Jeff Burgess, Pete Crowe, and Lewis Marion.”—Margaret Burgess Jones

“The Athletics played at Meade Avenue Ball Park near where the park is now on Meade Ave. Most of the people who played there were local. Jake Burgess was usually the manager of the team. You could pay 10 or 15 cents to get into the ball game or if you caught a fly ball that popped out of the field and brought it back you got free admission into the game. If you didn’t like that we could climb in a set of maple trees and look over the fence into center field and watch the ball game.”—Allan Gianniny

“Kelley’s All Stars was a family team. Everyone was related—brothers and cousins. They played all over the state and against teams that came in from Washington, Maryland and West Virginia. LeRoy was the booking agent and Charlie Jones the Manager. Some members of the family spelled the name with an ‘e’ and others without. The family roots were in Kellytown off Preston Avenue. Of course the girls in the family could play, but just at gatherings—not on the team.”—Dorothy Palmer

1) Kelley’s Allstars

In 1930, the American Legion brought its national junior baseball regional championship to Charlottesville because of its central location and “the many fine and inspiring points of historic interest located here.” Workmen graded a new diamond in the northwest corner of Lambeth Field for the young players. Teams from Manchester New Hampshire to Tampa Florida arrived on special trains with their families and fans. President Hoover was invited to attend. Nick Altrock and Al Schacht, famous comedians of the Washington Senators, entertained the crowds.

The Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Department was founded in November of 1933, and sponsored activities in McIntire, Belmont and Washington Parks. In those days there were seven small high schools scattered around Albemarle County. It was an adventure to play at some of them. At Stony Point H.S. the main road ran through the outfield, while Broadus Wood and Red Hill used soapstone home plates. After a while no one dared to slide home for fear of breaking a leg.

Local baseball teams of the 1930s included Kelley’s All Stars, S&R Silk Mills, Alberene, the Charlottesville Cardinals, and the Charlottesville Athletic Club. The Athletics’ home field was on Meade Avenue, but at least once they played a double-header with Alberene on Caddy Diamond, an unknown location. The Cardinals used Timberlake’s field off of Route 20 South. Kelley’s All Stars played at home on the Wine Cellar field and traveled throughout Virginia and into Maryland. According to Joseph Carey in the Charlottesville-Albemarle Tribune (1950), All Star Manager Charlie Jones also organized the “old Meadow Brook Club,” while some of the greatest locals played for the Elks Team in 1929-30.

Two great local baseball stars began their careers in the 1930s. Pete Crowe tried out for the majors but didn’t make it, while Happy Durham chose to stay in Charlottesville to remain “Happy”. Chubby Proffitt remembers, “He was always the most even tempered player on the field. He never raised his voice. If he didn’t like a call he’d just turn away and hit the next ball out of the park.”

2) Bud Thomas

Luther Baxter “Bud” Thomas, a native of Faber, lives near North Garden. During his seven years pitching in the majors he faced greats like Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Ben Chapman and Joe DiMaggio. With Bud on the mound for the Philadelphia Athletics on April 23, 1939, Connie Mack went to talk to the pitcher. With two runs scored, one man on base and two outs, Mack wanted the man at bat, a rookie just up from the minors, to strike out. “Connie Mack told me I had better not throw him a fast ball, that he killed fast balls. I threw him a slow ball, but he hit it out anyway.” (The 420 foot line drive was Ted Williams’ first major-league homerun. ) “Ted Williams was the best hitter I ever saw, but Joe DiMaggio was the best all around player I ever saw. He could do everything. He could hit and run and throw.”