2 Baseball Hall of Famers played Negro league ball in the Scenic City

Chattanooga Tigers!
Chattanooga All Stars!
Chattanooga Black Cats!
Chattanooga Black Lookouts!
Chattanooga Choo Choos!
Chattanooga Stars!
They all so had the Chattanooga White Sox,” said Dan Creed.

Those are all the names of teams that  played here in Chattanooga and are a part of the Scenic Cities history that many Chattanoogans may not know about…..

From 1920 to around 1950, Negro League baseball was played across the county, and Chattanooga was no exception with two well known baseball Hall of Famers all getting their start right here in the Tennessee Valley….

“Satchel Page played, and he basically got his start here. He would strike out 15 and walk 10 and hit 4, and they would win 5 to 4 ..He played, then Willie Mays came through. His mom didn’t want him coming up here …He came here for about half a season.”

The teams played at a number of different locations around town including Ingle Stadium and Lincoln Park, but during Chattanooga’s only championship season. The Satchel page led Black Lookouts played the majority of their games at Andrews field.

Creed said “That was the only year that a Chattanooga team won the championship and back then like I said the records were kind of hit and miss”

That sort of  hit and miss record keeping is why the history of many of these teams has been lost to time .