Golden opportunity: City needs historic baseball park

On April 28, 1926, hordes of baseball fans descended on the South Commons to the brand-new stadium on the Chattahoochee. White fans passed through the main entrance. African American fans bought tickets at the Fourth Street entrance and sat in the "colored" section. All cheered for the Foxes, Columbus' newly arrived South Atlantic League team.

Columbus still has Golden Park, the 1996 site of Olympic women's softball. The gracefully renovated stadium stands proud atop a bend of the river, though its last minor league team departed in 2008. This March 22, it was hours away from Columbus Council's declaring it surplus property. Rumors spread that wealthy and well-connected individuals might want a casino there.

Then the city attorney learned of an obscure 1925 act of the General Assembly: The legislature gave the South Commons to the city of Columbus for recreational use only. The law says any other purpose has to be approved by a majority of voters in a referendum.

Celebrating its 90th birthday, Golden Park is ready to start a new life. With citizen support, it can remain an integral part of the rich cultural life of our South Commons.

Baseball in Columbus

The Foxes in 1926 were heir to an illustrious tradition of local baseball stretching back to at least 1867 when the Enquirer first mentioned the game, a contest between the Empire and Excelsior Clubs at the South Commons horse track where the softball complex is today. In 1870, the Columbus "Independents" played at a local fair against Atlanta, Montgomery, and West Point for a prize awarded to the "best base ballists." The honor did not go to the Independents, who lost 70-12 to Montgomery. Local African American players also organized teams including the Metropolitan Club, the Mutuals, and the Girard Blackfeet.

In 1888, John F. Flournoy, owner of the street car company and Wildwood Park, formed a Base Ball Association and purchased a franchise in the professional Southern League, competing against Atlanta, Savannah, and Augusta. The team had talent and was a close second when it traveled to first-place Atlanta for the next-to-last series of the season.

Before the game, Atlanta's manager proposed Columbus throw the games to give the pennant to Atlanta, who would then split the money with the visiting team. The Columbus manager telegraphed Flournoy's streetcar manager J.H. Henderson for instructions. Henderson told him to "play honest ball." But when Columbus was ahead 11-4 in the fourth inning, the umpire, surely in Atlanta's pocket, called the game because of a wet field.

Back home, on July 14, Atlanta did not show for the season's final series. The Columbus team took their places on the Wildwood field, the pitcher threw nine balls over the plate, and the umpire declared the Columbus nine the victors. The pennant was theirs. However, financial difficulties shut down the team after that season.

T.E. Golden of Goldens' Foundry sparked local interest in a Base Ball Association in 1908, raising donations of $10,000. The Association hired former Atlanta player Jim Fox as manager. It named the team the Electrics, a nod to the Chamber of Commerce's brand for Columbus, "The Electric City." But local fans quickly started calling them the "Foxes" after their charismatic manager, who was also the team's hard-hitting first baseman. The Foxes won pennants in 1910, 1911, and 1917 and led in attendance until World War I snuffed the Southern League.

Visits by major league teams may have inspired the Foxes’ 1926 revival that gave birth to the Golden Park stadium. Big leaguers came to Columbus beginning in March 1899 with a week of spring training by the Cincinnati Reds at Wildwood Park. They returned in the spring of 1912, provoking the Enquirer editor to quip, "When the Georgia sun gets through with the Cincinnati baseball players, they will be entitled to their sobriquet, 'The Reds.'" The St. Louis Cardinals trained at Driving Park, the old racetrack on the South Commons, in March 1913. The Pittsburgh Pirates arrived in spring 1917. The team stayed at the Waverly Hotel, but their Negro trainer and his assistants were sent to the colored YMCA.

The Boston Braves came to town in March 1919 and 1920, bringing their catcher Hank Gowdy, MVP in the 1914 World Series and World War I hero. Gowdy was the first Major League player to volunteer in World War I, fighting in the trenches in France with the "Rainbow Division" of the 166th Infantry. In 1925, Fort Benning named its new baseball diamond "Hank Gowdy Field." Gowdy became a Major League manager in 1930, but volunteered for World War II in 1942 at age 53. He was commissioned a major, the only active major leaguer to serve in both World Wars. He served as Chief Athletic Officer at Fort Benning during the war.

An even more famous player took the city by storm in 1924: Babe Ruth. The world champion New York Yankees played an exhibition game with Rochester of the International League at Driving Park on April 2. The newspaper insisted Ruth was "anxious to speak to the sons of the Rotarians on the development of the body as well as the mind," an odd topic in light of Ruth's well-publicized excesses. The Rotary Club hosted him at a father-son luncheon before the game where he must have eaten too much. In the "listless" exhibition game, Ruth walked three times and struck out once.

The baseball stadium

When the Foxes formed again in 1926, the major controversy was where they would play. The Baseball Association rejected Driving Park and persuaded the city to locate a baseball stadium in a 125-acre recreation area begun in 1920 on the South Commons west of the racetrack. The 1920 park was named for T.E. Golden, chair of the city recreation board. Construction began immediately, and workers completed the stadium in time for the Foxes' season opener less than two weeks later. Within a couple of weeks, fans were calling the stadium "Golden Park." T.E. Golden attended home games regularly, his habit of handing children chewing gum winning him many young admirers. After his death, Golden's family estimated that in his lifetime, he gave away $40,000 worth of Juicy Fruit gum.

Sometimes, it was white fans in the minority at the ballpark. On April 24, 1929, the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro National League, led by pitching great and future Hall of Famer Satchel Paige, played Fort Benning's 24th Infantry team. Local African American teams from the 9th Street YMCA and athletic clubs also played at Golden Park.

The Foxes entertained local fans until the League collapsed under the weight of the Depression early in the 1932 season. Four years later, a farm team for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Columbus Red Birds, took residence in Golden Park, winning five pennants over the next two decades. Local fans enjoyed watching players like future Hall of Famer Enos Slaughter work their way to the majors and also the big league stars when general manager Branch Rickey brought the Cardinals to town for exhibitions.

The Cardinals farm team departed Columbus in 1955. The New York Yankees AA team joined the Southern League and came to Golden Park from 1964-1966. The local owners were apparently concerned about the negative implications of "Yankees" to local fans, so they added a Confederate flag to team uniforms and painted one over the entrance to Golden Park. Fans began calling the team the "Confederate Yankees." The team included several African American players, including future major leaguer Roy White, who not only had to wear the Confederate emblem but also endured harassment from white fans and segregated accommodations when the team traveled.

The Houston Astros' AA team played in Columbus from 1970-1988, then competed two more years as the Columbus Mudcats. The RedStixx, a farm club of the Cleveland Indians, played here from 1991-2002. Their name came from the Red Sticks, a rebellious faction of the Creek Indians in 1814. The last minor league team, the Columbus Catfish, a Tampa Bay Rays affiliate, departed Golden Park in 2008.

Park's Legacy

At least 20 future Hall of Famers graced Golden Park. The 1924 Yankees included not only Babe Ruth, but a young Lou Gehrig, who in the 1925 season took first base away from Wally Pipp and defended it for the next 2,130 consecutive games. In addition to Enos Slaughter, the Cardinals brought Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Stan Musial, Red Schoendienst, Joe Medwick, Walter Alston, and Johnny Mize for exhibition games at Golden Park in the 1930s and 1940s.

In late March 1940, the Cleveland Indians, Brooklyn Dodgers, and New York Giants played exhibition games at Golden Park, with Mel Ott, Pee Wee Reese, and Bob Feller on their rosters. The world champion New York Yankees, on their way in spring 1952 to their fourth consecutive World Series win, played an exhibition against the Columbus Red Birds, with Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Johnny Mize, and Phil Rizutto on the team.

In 1953, the legendary Philadelphia Athletics manager Connie Mack visited the park. Harmon Killebrew and Hank Aaron played at Golden Park during their minor league years in the 1950s. In 1957, Bob Gibson, possibly the most menacing pitcher in major league history, started his career on Golden Park's mound with the Columbus Red Birds.

Twenty-seven future All-Stars played for the home teams at Golden Park, including Astros power hitter Glenn Davis in the early 1980s. He married a Columbus girl, moved back here after his major league career, and is serving his fifth term on Columbus Council.

Saving Golden Park

Today Golden Park is too rustic to attract a professional baseball team. Still, it is an irreplaceable historic structure, the Springer Theatre of baseball. Golden Park should not be sold without voter approval. The South Commons should belong to the citizens of Columbus.

Perhaps an inclusive South Commons advisory committee could create a holistic vision that re-imagines the Commons as a park for all citizens. Golden Park would be the cornerstone of that vision.

One idea is to re-purpose it as an amphitheatre, attracting performers like Willie Nelson, Melissa Ethridge, Lauryn Hill, Boys II Men, John Prine, Indigo Girls, Erykah Badu, Al Green, and Alabama Shakes. The park would be a great location for a music festival or for a bike or road race. With only six big-name performances a year, it would turn the current $80,000 city budget deficit for the park's upkeep into at least a $40,000 profit.

The Golden Park amphitheatre could earn additional income from performances by the Columbus Symphony, CSU musicians, gospel sings, ethnic festivals such as the Latino festival, school district, church, and community concerts, Shakespeare in the Park and other outdoor theatre. The current estimate for its renovation is about $2 million, which could be raised with a combination of public and private funds.

Columbus needs Golden Park, where generations of fans spent leisurely hot summer afternoons listening to the crack of the wooden bats, watching a small white ball sail across the emerald grass, breathing the red dust of the infield.

For more information, visit the Friends of Golden Park Facebook page or contact me at vcausey@mindspring.com or 706-327-5932.

This story was originally published April 24, 2016 at 3:35 PM with the headline "Golden opportunity: City needs historic baseball park."