THOMASVILLE — 1941 saw the Thomasville Lookouts come to town as the Washington Senators minor league affiliate. Though the affiliation with a major league ball club was a monumental step forward for minor league baseball in Thomasville, the Lookouts were not especially exceptional. They finished an average fourth in the league with an almost even record of 69-67, netting them the bottom seed in the playoffs.

The Lookouts must have forgotten how average they were, because they cruised past the 85 win Valdosta Trojans in the first round of the playoffs, winning three games to two. In the championship series, Thomasville took on defending champion Waycross and avenged the Tourists as they defeated the Bears in an epic seven game series, delivering the first ever Georgia-Florida league title to the fans of Thomasville.

It is quite possible that the Lookouts could have lasted longer than their inaugural year and built something special in the Rose City, but the Senators farm system shrunk significantly in 1942, going from six teams to just three and the Lookouts were one of the teams that was cut. It wouldn’t have truly mattered, however, as the Georgia-Florida League shut down after the ’42 season due to World War II.

The war effected baseball on all levels as early as 1941, after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in December of the same year. The first MLB player to join the military was Hugh Mulcahy, who was followed by many other players who either volunteered or were drafted. Legends like Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, and Pee Wee Reese fought for the US in the war. A player by the name of Pete Reiser, who would later manage a Thomasville minor league team in 1955, attempted to join the Army twice, but was declared unfit because of baseball injuries. It was only because an Army Captain recognized him as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers that Reiser was allowed in to the military. The Dodger served from 1943-1945, but his service was unique.

Reiser got pneumonia early in his stent at Fort Riley after a long and cold march and was waiting to be sent home, when a CO decided he should play baseball for the Fort Riley team. Reiser played for the team for two years. He had a private quarters and no other duties besides entertaining the troops and playing ball. Reiser also saw his future teammate and the man who would break the color barrier in baseball, Jackie Robinson, while playing at Fort Riley. Robinson wanted to play on the team, but was told he couldn’t play with the white players. He came to practice once at Fort Riley to watch the game he loved. Reiser was later portrayed by Jamey Holliday in the 2013 hit film “42”.

After the war ended in 1945, the Georgia-Florida League reopened and baseball returned to Thomasville, this time in the form of a cat.

The Thomasville Tigers showed up in the Rose City as the Detroit affiliate for the 1946 season. The Tigers first season was nothing to write home about. The team was a mish-mash of different players in different stages of their careers. From 34-year-old second baseman Vincent Mullen giving it one last go in the minors, to 19-year-old rookie Wiley Williams, who was beginning what would be a long 11-year career in the minors that would see him play for 14 different teams.

In their first year, the Tigers finished a dismal 45-80, finishing in second to last and 10.5 games ahead of the last place Cordele White Sox. This kind of finish continued throughout the Tigers’ five year existence in Thomasville. They usually finished between fifth and seventh place and at the end of their final season in Thomasville in 1950, the Tigers had not finished with a winning season once. The closest they came was in 1947, when they finished with a 68-69 record. The only real success they had was from individual players like Robert Fulton, who in 1950 led the Georgia-Florida league with 15 home runs.

Despite the poor play from the Tigers, the citizens of Thomasville were hot for baseball. From 1946-1948, the Tigers saw a yearly total attendance of over 50,000 fans, seeing an average of over 800 fans per game. They saw a significant decline in attendance in 1950, but between 1946 and 1948, the Tigers achieved record highs for game attendance. A record that stood throughout minor league baseball’s time in Thomasville. It didn’t matter if their team was bad, Thomasville was baseball crazy.