Some leagues were known as hitters leagues, where a pitcher with a 4.00 ERA might end up winning the ERA title. Some leagues are known as pitchers leagues, where a hitter hitting .299 could win the batting title. Some leagues start out on one side and several years later they will be the other.
The 1952 Georgia-Florida League was most certainly a pitchers league. How can you tell? On July 3, the Cordele A's traveled to Brunswick, Georgia to play the Brunswick Pirates. In the fourth inning, they sent Ralph "Froggy" Betcher to the plate with the bases loaded. A wild pitch and 2 of the Pirates 6 errors on the day emptied the bases, before Betcher homered. It was his first home run of the season. The blast gave him the team lead by himself. Betcher won the team home run title with the one home run. Thats right, the A's hit 1 home run in 139 games.
Perhaps the A's had a power shortage in their lineup? After all the Valdosta Dodgers and the Waycross Bears had 15 home runs each. Three clubs with a combined 31 home runs? How about 4 clubs combining for 56 home runs. The entire league had 186 home runs and batted .242. The Thomasville Tomcats lead the league with 42 home runs. only 12 hitters in the whole league cleared .300 with their batting average. If you were a hitter this was not the league that you wanted to play in.
Tomorrow we will look at a Fourth of July bonfire or two.
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