Rickwood's Grand Years
The Barons did not claim an SA pennant during the 1940s, but the resurgence of baseball across the country after World War II brought record crowds to Rickwood from 1948–50. In 1948, the Barons drew 445,926 to Rickwood winning the Dixie Series over Fort Worth and followed up with 421,305 in 1949. Unfortunately, the Barons did not win another SA pennant until 1958, when they won 91 games and the pennant by 6½ games for Cal Ermer
The remainder of the 1950s and 60s saw the club finish first in 1959 (1st half) but could not win the pennant. Then, for the first time since 1898, Birmingham did not have a team as the Southern Association ceased operations after the 1961 season.
Read more about this topic: Birmingham Barons
Famous quotes containing the words grand and/or years:
““You have a grand gift of silence, Watson,” said he, “it makes you quite invaluable as a companion.””
—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930)
“We do not associate the idea of antiquity with the ocean, nor wonder how it looked a thousand years ago, as we do of the land, for it was equally wild and unfathomable always. The Indians have left no traces on its surface, but it is the same to the civilized man and the savage. The aspect of the shore only has changed.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)