1933 Birmingham Barons

The 1933 Birmingham Barons were the 49th team to play as the Birmingham Barons, the 33rd to compete in the Southern Association, the 24th to play for Rick Woodward at spacious Rickwood Field, and the fourth to be skippered by former Washington Senator Clyde Milan. During the height of the Great Depression attendance suffered. While more than 200,000 tickets were sold in each of the several years preceding the Wall Street crash of 1929, 1933's gates spun for only 71,805 fans.

Roster

• Pitchers: Ray Caldwell, Bill Hughes, Hod Lisenbee, Dick McCabe, Henry Shoaf, Clay Touchstone, Jim Walkup, Abe White
• Catchers: Bill Atwood, Ray Berres
• Infield: Woody Abernathy, Billy Bancroft, Harold Willet, Jess Cortazzo, Jake Daniel, Tom Kane
• Outfield: Brown Braly, John Cummings, Aubrey Epps, Joe Prerost, Phile Weintraub, Butch Weis
• Manager: Clyde Milan

Promotions

• The New York Yankees played a pre-season exhibition game against the Barons, with stars Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Dixie Walker in tow.
• "Alabama Day": Four Barons who were Alabama natives or residents (Abernathy, Bancroft, Daniel, and Willett) were honored along with visiting Atlanta Crackers Millard Hayes, Red Rollings and Fred Sington during a double-header. Twelve autographed baseballs were given out in a drawing and the Drum and Bugle Corps from the Birmingham American Legion Post No. 1 entertained the crowd. Local businesses donated gifts to the seven honored players. One of the autographed balls, loaned by Peter Ozbolt, is on display near the souvenir shop at Regions Park.
• "Italian Day": Rickwood hosted a match-up between two teams from the Italian League before the Barons took the field. John Renelli's orchestra provided music and Harry Swacina was brought in as a guest umpire at the plate.
• "Milan Day": A tribute to Manager Clyde Milan, coincided with "Ladies Day Kids Day", where kids accompanied by their mothers got in free and local businesses donated permanent waves to be given away in a drawing.

See also

• 1933 Birmingham Black Barons

References

• Barnette, Steve (June 14, 2000) "Baseball from 1933 celebrates early Barons." Birmingham News

External links

• 1933 Birmingham Barons statistics at baseball-reference.com