It was big news across Macon when it opened 91 years ago this week. So big, in fact, that the city’s mayor, Luther Williams, even asked bosses to let their workers leave early that day: April 18, 1929.
Mayor Luther Williams’ proclamation
“I, therefore, proclaim Thursday afternoon … to be a holiday as far as possible,” the mayor said, “and respectfully urge upon all our people to come out in force, and furthermore would request that the merchants allow as many of their employees as can be spared to attend the opening. … Let us consider it a part of our duty to be present.”
There was a baseball game that day at the city’s brand-new (and unnamed) stadium in Central City Park. Kennesaw Mountain Landis, baseball’s first commissioner, even threw out the first pitch.
Times were good. The start of the Great Depression was six months off.
Within two weeks City Council members named it Luther Williams Field, in the mayor’s honor. It cost about $60,000 to build.
This iconic sign greets visitors to Luther Williams Field.
Macon native John “Blue Moon” Odom was a star for the Oakland Athletics.
If there ever were a priority list of historic places to preserve (and history to share) in Macon, you’d have to include Luther Williams Field. (And there is: It’s Historic Macon’s Saving Places Index.) The ballpark is on the National Register of Historic Places. Its old-time look is much the same as it was back then. The brick entryway. The words MACON BASE BALL PARK in block letters right outside steps to the grandstand. (There’s even a Walk of Fame that honors players who’re either from Macon or who played in Macon.)
The park has witnessed both glory and despair over the years. Jackie Robinson played at Luther Williams on April 7, 1949, during an exhibition game between his Brooklyn Dodgers and the Macon Peaches. In the process, he broke the color barrier in Georgia.
Pete Rose and other members of the Macon Peaches were a championship team in 1962.
Hank Aaron, Ted Williams and Joe Dimaggio also played there. Old-timers remember seeing future Cincinnati Reds stars Pete Rose, Tony Perez, Lee May and Tommy Helms, among others, play for the Peaches in the early ‘60s.
Vince Coleman set a base-stealing record for the Macon Redbirds in 1983 (despite missing a month of the season with a broken hand.) Chipper Jones, Jermaine Dye, Andruw Jones, John Rocker and Rafael Furcal played for the Macon Braves when it was an Atlanta Class A affiliate.
It also sat empty for years, waiting on much-needed repairs.
High school teams — public and private — once played in the Lem Clark Tournament there each spring. In the mid-’70s, college-age players home for the summer formed a league and took the field there too. (I remember a few at-bats in each.)
Since the 1950s, seven different major league teams operated farm teams there: the Dodgers, Reds, Phillies, Tigers, Cardinals, Pirates — and the Braves, who last played there in 2002 before moving to Rome.
Now it is home to the Macon Bacon, a wood-bat collegiate team in the Coastal Plain League about to begin its third year of play — we hope — as we also wait for the major leagues to return.
Despite shelter-in-place orders and other social distancing measures, the Bacon are preparing to play a full season. The roster is set. They’re selling tickets and lining up sponsors. County workers are cutting the grass.
“We’re going full bore planning for the home opener May 29,” team President Brandon Raphael said. “April and May are our go time. Everyone is prepared to get this thing moving.” (UPDATE: The league season will begin July 1, with a 28-game schedule for the team. Social distancing will restrict attendance at home games to about 1,300 fans.)
Giant fans will help tamp down the heat.
If you haven’t been inside the stadium lately, there are plenty of improvements: A beer garden and group areas on the first- and third-base sides. Picnic and children’s play areas. Seating and painting upgrades. And new for this season: four huge ceiling fans with 16-foot blades to help beat the heat.
Raphael actually remembers the first time he set foot inside the ballpark: July 27, 2018. He’d flown in from San Antonio, Texas, for a visit while he was considering taking the president’s job. He had done a little research on Macon and the ball field, but “I did not realize how much history I was going to be exposed to” at Luther Williams Field.
“I will never forget it,” he said.
In October, his family — wife, Kimberly, and their two children, Caden and Brooklyn, came to Macon for the first time. Raphael brought them to the ballpark. His son had just finished a book report on Jackie Robinson. As the two of them strolled around the field, they sat in the home dugout at one point.
“Do you know who you’re sharing a bench with?” Raphael asked his son. “Jackie Robinson played baseball here at Luther Williams Field.”
Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Georgia when he played at Luther Williams Field in 1949.
The park’s throwback features have made it a Hollywood favorite for 45 years. You know the titles. “The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings.” … “42.” … “Trouble With the Curve.” … “Brockmire.”
Luther Williams Field on April 18, 1929.
Yes, they all make us miss baseball. And at a time when we’re turning to such diversions, we can take some solace in a line from another baseball movie, “Field of Dreams,” that has an uncanny relevance these days as we hope for the best in the midst of our collective turmoil:
“The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again.
“But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again.”
The Macon Bacon are proud to honor baseball’s past at Luther Williams Field.