Bring Back the Peaches

As a kid playing ball at Macon's Vine-Ingle Little League in the late 60's,

the team everyone wanted to be on was the Peaches.

Attending a Peaches game at Luther Williams Field was a magical event.

Now this June the Macon Bacon are honoring their predecessors

by wearing Peaches uniforms in one game.

Saturday morning the Bacon, a college summer league team in their second year of operation, held an open house and announced the event. Two local news stations covered the unveiling.
 
https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/macon/macon-bacon-unveils-throwback-jersey-to-honor-macon-peaches/93-b6643beb-495d-493b-88dc-f325c9a34174

The jerseys appear to be throwbacks to the polyester era of the 1970's,

though I'm not sure they're modeled after an actual Peaches jersey.  

Team president Brandon Raphael made the announcement. A St. Louis native, Raphael played baseball for Maryville College in Missouri. 

While the uniforms weren't available, caps and t-shirts were.

Pretty sure these wordmarks and logos are new creations

and not specific to any period. 

A decent t-shirt. Unlike some of the Bacon shirts for sale in the team shop, 
 I don't think these Peaches shirts are scratch and sniff.

A tribute to the 1962 league champion Peaches is displayed outside the ballpark. Note former Peach Pete Rose (#11, lower left).

Rose in action.

I had in mind a Macon Bacon cap I wanted to buy, so I could represent my hometown while out and about in Atlanta. The original home cap is genius with the simple bacon M and burgundy bill, but none were for sale in the team shop. I passed on other options, including two different came caps, a white front cap, a cheaper all black cap, and several versions with the hard to see Bacon mascot. No loss - I have too many caps already.

The seats were numbered in the team's bacon font.

I resisted the urge to peel off a sticker, which you could tell were stuck on top of the previous seat number stickers.https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/playercollectorsshowcase/local-baseball-history-t725.html

 

This was my first visit back to Luther Williams Field in well over twenty years, since I saw Chipper Jones play a game there for the Macon Braves.

https://www.maconbaconbaseball.com/ 

The second-oldest minor league park in the country looks much better since the white paint was blasted off, exposing the original red brick.

Several movies have been filmed at Luther Williams,

including Trouble With the Curve, 42,

The Other Boys of Summer,

and The Bingo Long Traveling All Stars and Motor Kings.

The original wood roof was replaced with tin,
and the old wooden bleacher benches have been replaced with plastic seats. Before the Bacon began play last year they refurbished the ballpark,
adding pavilions down each baseline.

 Not sure I saw Rose play in Macon.

Blue Moon Odom didn't play for the Peaches, but the Macon native made his hometown proud as a member of the world champion A's.

 Several interesting plaques posted around the park.

When I was 13 playing Pony League baseball,

a teammate's father worked for the recreation authority,

so our team got to practice in the park.

I hadn't seen this plaque before.

Hopefully by Mercer friends haven't either.

 Since this first game the Jackets haven't lost again.

Several Negro League ballplayers also had plaques in the park, including Robert Scott, whom I had met earlier this month. When Macon Bacon director of group sales Brittany Middleton, from nearby Lizella, saw me taking an interest in Scott's plaque, she asked if I'd met Mr. Scott. She said Scott had made it out to several games last year.

Not all the paint has been removed.

One of the park's features: the trains rolling past beyond the outfield.

The train traffic may have been more active back in the 60's,

capturing the attention of at least one young boy.  

I grew up reading Harley Bowers' columns
in the Macon Telegraph's sports section,
and for better or worse
my writing style was most surely impacted by him. 

The Macon Bacon missed a great chance to have a pig for their mascot. What were they thinking?