Ken Anderson was eleven years old when Bud Crews, who worked for DeKalb County, graded land along Mount Vernon Road and what is today’s Dunwoody Village Parkway for a baseball field. Crews built wooden bleachers for the field and was manager of the Dunwoody baseball team.
Jane Autry’s husband Clarence Autry played for the Dunwoody team, along with Edward Manning, and Lamar Eidson. She recalls that local businesses sponsored the team. There was a concession stand at the baseball field. Sometimes the team played at Dunwoody, other weekends they traveled to Doraville, Duluth and Norcross for games.
Dunwoody, Doraville, Norcross and Duluth all had baseball teams from about 1948 until the 1960s. Community baseball games provided entertainment for the community. The teams consisted of adult players, playing for friendly competition, not for pay.
Ralph Glaze remembers the Doraville baseball field, which was located where the Scott Candler Water Filter Plant is today on Winters Chapel Road. His family owned the Glaze Grocery Store, and later Glaze Hardware Store just around the corner.
Glaze remembers that Jake Gantt got permission from the county to build the Doraville baseball field. Gantt lived in a home where the Four Oaks Subdivision is today along Peeler Road. He built wooden bleachers with chicken wire across the front for the Doraville baseball field.
There was also a concession stand, complete with Coca-Colas, chips, and ice from the Doraville Ice Company. The drinks were kept in a big washtub and a bottle opener was always handy to open the bottled drinks. Mae Smith and Lucille Gantt ran the concession stand. In the 1980’s and 1990’s, Mae Smith was the crossing guard at Chesnut Elementary.
Several of the Doraville team members worked at the new General Motors Automobile Plant. The automobile assembly plant opened in 1947.
After the photo below appeared in the Dunwoody Crier newspaper, more information became available about the players on the Dunwoody baseball team.
This photo is from The Story of Dunwoody by Elizabeth Davis and Ethel Spruill.
Bonnie Swancy grew up on and later owned the land where the Swancy Cottage is located on Roberts Drive. The Swancy family also owned land across Roberts Drive where the Dunwoody Nature Center is located. Bonnie Swancy was part of the earliest Boy Scout troop in Dunwoody, which began at Dunwoody Methodist Church. Swancy served in the Army during the Korean War.
Tony Palma was a Physical Education Teacher and baseball coach at Chamblee High School from the late 1940s until 1975. Mark Welsh, whose brother was coached by Palma, shared this history with me.
Herbert Martin and his brother Dorris Martin, also in the photograph, were the grandsons or the Martin family who once lived where Dunwoody High School is located today.
Travis Eidson was the son of Calvin Eidson and Corrie Womack Eidson of Dunwoody. Eidson served in the Army from 1951 to 1953. Jane Autry remembers that he managed the Sinclair Gas Station at the northwest corner of Chamblee Dunwoody Road and Mount Vernon Road. His younger brother Lamar Eidson also played for the Dunwoody baseball team.
Paul Manning’s family home was along the north side of Mount Vernon Road and included a lake which was used by the Dunwoody Baptist Church for baptisms.
Born in 1930, Billie Ivie attended Chamblee High School and then went to North Georgia College on a baseball scholarship. He was a Marine stationed at Naval Air Station (DeKalb-Peachtree Airport today) between 1950 and 1952. He later worked as a grading contractor, general contractor and developer.
Eugene Wilson and Cecil Power also attended Chamblee High School, playing sports under coach Tony Palma. Perhaps Palma recruited high school players for the Dunwoody community team. Some of the players probably lived in Dunwoody or other nearby communities, as Chamblee was the only high school in north DeKalb County for many years.
I haven’t found information yet on the remaining men in the baseball team photograph.