Why Macon Needs Baseball- Part One

Have you ever heard of Luther Williams Field in Macon, GA? Probably not, unless you are from the Middle Georgia area. Luther Williams is a minor league stadium in the heart of downtown Macon, GA that was built in 1929. Luther Williams seats 3,500 spectators and is the second oldest minor league stadium in the country, though it is not currently in use by any teams.

Many summer league and independent league teams have called it home over the last decade including the Macon Music and the Macon Pinetoppers, but the last minor league team to call it home was the Macon Braves. The Braves were the Single-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves and operated in Macon from 1991-2002 then they moved to Rome, GA.

Luther Williams has seen many famous and Hall of Fame baseball players play on its field including Pete Rose, Ty Cobb, and Braves greats such as Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones. The stadium has also played the part in a few movies including “The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings” (1976), “Trouble with the Curve” (2012), and “42” (2013).

Reed Johnson is the only player on the Atlanta Braves roster that played in Luther Williams back in 2000 for the Hagerstown Suns (TOR). However, almost every coach has either played or coached in Macon. Current pitching coach, Roger McDowell squared off against the Macon Peaches (DET) as a player for the Shelby Mets (NYM) in 1982. Braves’ manager Fredi Gonzalez played against the Macon Pirates (PIT) during the 1983-1984 seasons as a member of the Greensboro Hornets (NYY). Carlos Tosca, Braves current bench coach since 2010, was his manager at the time.  Scott Fletcher, Braves assistant hitting coach since 2012, was the Charleston River Dogs (TB) manager in 1997. Brian Snitker, 3^rd base coach since 2007, began his coaching career in the Braves minor league system, but later went on to manage at every level of the organization including the Macon Braves in 1992, 1997-1998.

Recently, minor league stadiums are starting to look like Major League stadiums with big, beautiful brick walls, crazy concession stand food, and luxury suites. When I was in college it was preached that Minor League Baseball was supposed to be family friendly. The teams should want to attract families and “make mom happy.” Suites are unnecessary at minor league stadiums. There are plenty of other ways to welcome groups, show sponsors a great time, and provide top of the line services. Here are the changes I think Luther Williams needs:

1. An electronic scoreboard. Trust me from experience, while the manual score is fun and gives you that feeling of watching a game in the old days, certain improvements are just necessary.

2. Some kind of TV board to broadcast replays, lineups and stat lines.

3. Modern improvements to the press box. That catwalk is scary.

4.  A really good lawn maintenance guy. For the field being almost 100 years old it looks great, however, if a minor league team is going to be playing on the field it needs to look a lot better.

5.  Improved picnic area. This is where groups and sponsors can be shown the VIP treatment.

6. Basic updates to the locker rooms.

7. Basic updates to the offices. These are rough and definitely need A/C.

If you have other suggestions please make them. This is a topic I am very passionate about and I really want to see baseball in Macon again. I will continue with this topic later with more information on what happened and why the Braves left.

TO BE CONTINUED...