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Still residing here in Athens, Johnny San
doval. Sanders played for 28 different teams
over a stretch of 28 years in the Negro
Leagues. A lifetime batting average of 312
hitters. Some games were played with the
winning team receiving 60% of the gate
admission fee and the losing team
receiving 40%.
The Athens area was blessed with
many great ball players. Second to Babe
Davis was Frank Carithers, Jr., the son of
Frank Carithers, Sr. who played with the
greatest pitcher of all times — Leroy
Satchel Paige — in Chattanooga, Tenn
essee. Frank Carithers. Jr. was a long ball
hitter and once hit ‘five’ home runs in a
two-game series against the Atlanta Black
Crackers. After graduation from Union
Baptist. Frank Carithers, Jr. attended
Savannah State College, partly from a
scholarship, transferred to Florida-
Norman College located in St. Augustine.
Florida, and later returned to Savannah
State College and graduated. Later, he
was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds
organization during the summer of 1949.
Unfortunately, he was unable to report to
practice due to injury and
miscommunication.
Another Athens' Redsox great v/as
Lefty Johnson. After high school, Lefty
played for the U.S. Army Regiment team.
This team consisted of only the best
players in the U.S. Army. Ensuing
military, Lefty played ‘center’ and ‘right
field’ for the Athens’ Redsox and
generally batted clean-up.
Harry Wesley ‘Squab’ Jones and
Harold Thomas who kept Negro baseball
alive in Athens and made many sacrifices
year after year. Not only did Squab play
an integral role in the Negro baseball
league, many remember his affiliation
with the University of Georgia football
and basketball teams as well as his
association with the Atlanta Falcons. His
affiliation with the University of Georgia
enabled him to acquire playing equipment
for the Negro baseball league. Squab’s
tenure with the league extended into the
mid 1960s.
The Negro baseball league took a
‘twist’ in 1952 in that the late Harold
Thomas and Frank Carithers, Jr. drove a
team bus to Florida. It was also at this
time that Carithers played for one week
with Cuban players in Cuba. During this
encounter, twelve Cuban players
contracted to come to the U.S. and played
in Athens. The team was known as the
Athens’ Cuban Redsox.
This team developed into one of the
greatest Negro League Baseball Teams in
the southeast. Frank Carithers was the
only American player on the Athens’
Cuban Redsox team. While Harold
Thomas served as the coach for the team,
people from the entire state of Georgia
came to see them from 1952-1954.
Usually, the games ended up at the House
of Blue Lights located on Barnett Shoals
Rd. or the American Legion on Magnolia.
Besides Frank Carithers, Johnny
Sandoval Sanders is the only former
Athens’ Cuban Redsox player remaining
in this area. Johnny was a ‘slick fielding’
first baseman who batted left and threw
left. His baseball career stretched from
1952 to 1980. Accordingly, he played for
28 different teams, including: the Joe
Black All-stars. Satchel Paige All-stars,
Georgia All Black Stars, and the Indiana
Indianapolis Clowns. Johnny's lifetime
batting average was .321 which included
over 3500 hits, 388 home runs, and 1400
stolen bases. Currently, Mr. Sanders is
attempting to be nominated to the Negro
Hall of Fame.
Amateur Negro baseball was kept
alive in Athens in the mid to late 60s by
people like Roger Huff, Squab Jones, Fat
Boy, Lieutenant Clifton Freeman, the late
Tom Lay, Chief Joseph Lumpkin, Willie
McBride, Joe Eberhart, and others. The
teams were: the Athens’ Cardinal, Braves,
and several all-star teams. The last
amateur team was sponsored in 1971-72
by Clarke County's Community Relations
Department. From 1920-1960, Negro
baseball was a part of our history that
brought first class entertainment, talent,
and economic power. And Athens shared
in on the moment.
Frank Carithers, Jr. was drafted by the Cinn-
cinati Reds organization in 1949. 1952 photo
with the Athens ’ Cuban Redsox.
VOLUME 4 ISSUE 21
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