New Look Bar, Rebel to make 1st Pitch, History Funtime!

BAR CHANGES
It sounds like if you enjoyed the view of the ballgame from the Club Car Bar, you may have to find a new spot to take in the game. The Biscuits are enclosing the bar and adding a deck facing the street. I haven't seen it yet but hope they take good care of our historic building - its one of the best features of the stadium!

BISCUITS BAKING
Lots of excitement building for the new season of Biscuits, though its still a couple weeks before we learn the players.

No word yet on a "Meet the Biscuits" event, but its been an annual thing so I would expect it to happen. Hopefully at the new Club Car Bar, to give fans a chance to check out the fresh work.

*** UPDATED *** Hearing a rumor that the Meet the Biscuits event will be held in The Alley.

The magnet schedule may be the smallest one yet, if what I was told is true. 

APRIL DATE FOR REBEL
If the Biscuits plan to laud the two new Hall of Famers who wore Montgomery uniforms, Jack Morris and Alan Trammell, it could happen on April 19th. On that same Thursday a former Rebels player, catcher Larry Anderson, will be in attendance and throwing out the first pitch.

I look forward to seeing the former catcher and finding out what the team has to offer in tribute to the cities baseball history, though the schedule only lists that date as "Mardi Gras Night".

The '56 Rebels, with Anderson, pick up a trophy at a local school

 LARRY
That's Catcher Larry Anderson, not pitcher Larry Anderson who is the radio guy with the Phillies. Laurits Anderson played for the Barons in '54 then came to Montgomery midseason and stuck with the Rebels through 1958. I don't see any numbers for him in one year, 1957, and look forward to asking him if he missed a year due to injury, personal reasons or military service.

Anderson got to Montgomery as a 24 year old and caught games for manager Marv Olsen. Over the next few years he would play under a litany of All Stars and baseball lifers, learning the game under the lights of Montgomery's Paterson Field.

HISTORY FUNTIME!

MARCH 18 1905 
Governor Cummings meet the NY Highlanders as they arrive/leave at Montgomery. The Sporting Life of Jan 1905 shows NY planned to break camp on the 18th, leaving for a game at New Orleans on the 20th.

The Highlanders, later earning some success as the Yankees, have been spring training in Montgomery but many of their star pitchers, have been in town for more than a month. Manager Clark Griffith sent them early to learn a new pitch, the SpitBall from future Hall of Famer Jack Chesbro.

Jack Chesbro

MARCH 19 1908 

S.H. Smith, a student at Alabama Polytechnic Institute (Auburn Uni), hit in the head by a ball in a game on the 18th, passes away. A horrible story, one of the early instances of a player being killed in a game happens here in our area.

 

MARCH 19 1908 
Philadelphia defeats Montgomery 11-1

One in a series of spring games against the Athletics, who are training in Montgomery. The Connie Mack Athletics have workouts in the mornings and practice games in the afternoons against the local competition. Minor league teams, local amateur teams, MLB teams barnstorming north are all on the slate for the A's.

Obviously, the Senators of Montgomery are little match for one of the top teams in the American League, falling easily in a lopsided affair on the same day as the Auburn student dies from his injury. A second game will be held on the next day, March 20th, though the score of that game is unknown.


MARCH 20 1904 

Announcement comes that W.H. Ragland has bought Mgm team. Raglan is one of the heads of Mgm traction co street railway.

As the railway changes hands following legal issues in part regarding scheduling league baseball games that can only be reached by streetcar, so does the baseball team change hands also.

 Ragland will be an active owner, increasing the payroll and bringing in top players from across the major and minor leagues. At one point, he will even offer a hefty bonus for the players as incentive to bring home a championship.

MARCH 20 1911 
Sunday Baseball Bill Goes Through

Kilby

Measure For Mobile is Passed by Senate By 12 to 11 Votes

Bart Chamberlain’s Sunday baseball bill came to the senate and passed by nearly a tie vote of 12 to 11.

Mr. Thomas Kilby, later Governor Kilby, speaking against the bill, compared Mobile with Sodom and Gomorrah, and said the bill was an effort to repeal the Ten Commandments.

Known as an ardent prohibitionist, Kilby obviously wasn't a big fan of Mobile!