Q: We all know Ty Cobb, who was called “The Georgia Peach, was born in Georgia. Who are some of the other baseball players from the state?
A: Since the Braves are struggling while they eye the future, let's take a look at the top Georgia-born baseball players through the years.
Cobb, who was part of the first class inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, is perhaps the best player to have been born in Georgia.
But did you know that fellow hall of famers Josh Gibson (Buena Vista), Johnny Mize (Demorest), Jackie Robinson (Cairo), Bill Terry (Atlanta) and Frank Thomas (Columbus) also are from the state?
Terry W. Sloope, a member of the Magnolia Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research assembled a team of Georgia-born players for a 2010 article and then added a few more names this month when I emailed him asking about current players.
Several former Braves — Marquis Grissom (Atlanta), Tim Hudson (Columbus), Brian McCann (Athens) and Adam Wainwright (Brunswick) — are included.
Other Georgians include former Washington Senators shortstop Cecil Travis (Riverdale), who had a career .327 average before serving in World War II, Ray Knight (Albany), Moises Alou (Atlanta) and Negro League star pitcher Dick “Cannonball” Redding.
There’s Buster Posey (Leesburg), the 2012 National League MVP, and Spud Chandler (Commerce), who was the American League MVP in 1943.
In addition to Hudson, Wainwright and Chandler, top pitchers include Kevin Brown (Milledgeville), Kenny Rogers (Savannah), Todd Jones (Marietta) and current St. Louis reliever Jonathan Broxton (Augusta).
Other current players include two fleet outfielders – the Chicago Cubs’ Dexter Fowler (Atlanta) and the Kansas City Royals’ Lorenzo Cain (Valdosta).
Foot stomping time
David Parr has first-hand knowledge of the former Ford Motor Co. assembly plant before it was transformed into the Ford Factory Lofts featured last week.
He served in the active Army Reserves in 1956 and his unit met at the building on Ponce de Leon Avenue.
Ford sold the building to the War Department in 1942.
“The assembly hall was a very large room with polished wooden floors on top of a concrete floor,” said Parr, who lives in Dacula.
“As we were called to attention, around 500 combat boots stomped to attention. I was immediately in awe at the sound representing a group of people transforming from civilians to citizen soldiers.”
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