The Crackers: Early Days of Atlanta Baseball

by Tim Darnell

Overview

Beginning in an era before traffic jams, air-conditioning, and Atlanta’s ascension to international fame, Tim Darnell chronicles the emergence of amateur and minor-league baseball in various forms in Atlanta from just after the Civil War through the rise of the Crackers (1901–65).

Through never-before-published player interviews, rare illustrations, extensive charts and statistics, and thorough research, Darnell examines the drama and politics that affected the Crackers over the years. Also profiled is the Black Crackers, Atlanta’s Negro Southern League franchise whose success and popularity paralleled those of their white counterparts.

The Crackers is a light-hearted, fun, and engrossing history of a time, a people, and one very special centerfield magnolia tree whose stories are legend to this day.

Includes a Crackers Trivia Quiz, and appendices with records and statistics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781588181015
Publisher:	University of Georgia Press
Publication date:	05/15/2012
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	624,652
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.58(d)

About the Author

TIM DARNELL is an award-winning journalist who has written for numerous Atlanta sports and political publications. He is also the author of 101 Atlanta Sports Legends and The Georgia Tech Trivia Book.

TIM DARNELL is an award-winning journalist who has written for numerous Atlanta sports and political publications. He is also the author of 101 Atlanta Sports Legends and The Georgia Tech Trivia Book.

What People are Saying About This

Jimmy Carter

Before we had the Braves, the Crackers were our team.

Zell Miller

I loved this book which brought back some wonderful memories of the majesty of the Crackers and the magic of baseball. It's a home run.

Jim Huber

There has always been something very magical about the early days of minor-league baseball and Tim Darnell makes that magic come alive in Crackers. Makes one wonder how Andruw Jones would manage a magnolia in his centerfield.
— Jim Huber, CNN/Sports Illustrated commentator and author of A Thousand Goodbyes

Bruce Chadwick

Tim Darnell has not only written one of the finest books on minor league baseball, but one of the very best books on the game itself.
— Bruce Chadwick, author of When the Games Was Black and White: The Illustrated History of Baseball's Negro Leagues

Terry Kay

I cannot think of a more perfect gift book for anyone who has the thrill of America's greatest game surging through his or her soul.

Roy Blount

When people ask me what my team is, I say, 'Well, it used to be the Crackers...,' and then my voice trails off in this poignantly deracinated way. Those people need to read this book.

Paul Hemphill

This is a must-read for anyone who gets teary at the magnolia in what once was centerfield at old Poncey, my generation's field of dreams.
— Paul Hemphill, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of The Heart of the Game: The Education of a Minor-League Ballplayer

Louis D. Rubin

I can recall the lineup of Paul Richards's 1938 Southern League champions as if it hadn't been sixty-five years ago. This book stirs up some treasured memories.

Ernie Harwell

Tim Darnell took me on a vivid journey back to visit with my boyhood heroes, the Atlanta Crackers. A great trip through a special time in Southern Sports.
— Ernie Harwell, Baseball Hall of Famer and Atlanta Crackers radio announcer, 1943-1948

Percival Everett

This affectionately conceived and executed history is a real work of love: love of place, people and a game. It is an informative and considered glimpse of a beautiful game played during an ugly time. It is proof that everyone's history is important.
— Percival Everett, author of Suder

Editorial Reviews

Roy Blount, Jr., establishes himself as a major humorist.

William F. Buckley Jr.

This book contains pop zest and folk wisdom . . . deep-dish country humor and acute sensibility. . . . Like Mark Twain, [Blount] pits the sagacity and saltiness of the cracker barrel against the smooth, evasive rhetoric of the soapbox.

New Republic

The funniest book I've read in a decade.

Harry Crews

The best of Blount—and Blount at his best.

Tom Wolfe

Page for page, Roy Blount is as funny as anyone I've read in a long time.

Norman Mailer

“Before the Braves, the Crackers were our team.”—President Jimmy Carter

“There has always been something very magical about the early days of minor-league baseball, and Darnell makes that magic come alive.”—Jim Huber, CNN/Sports Illustrated

“One of the finest books on minor-league baseball.”—Bruce Chadwick, author of When the Game was Black and White

"This is a great trip through a special time in southern sports"—Ernie Harwell

"I love this book . . . It's a home run."—Zell Miller

"This book stirs up treasured memories."—Louis D. Rubin Jr., The Quotable Baseball Fanatic

"When people ask me what my team is, I say, 'Well, it used to be the Crackers.'"—Roy Blount Jr.

"A must-read"—Creative Loafing

From the Publisher

Tim Darnell's meticulous detail and warm stories remind us there was a time when the Atlanta Crackers and the Atlanta Black Crackers captured the hearts and imaginations of their city like no professional teams before or since.
— Atlanta Magazine

Lee Walburn

This book on the minors is a MAJOR hit! I loved it! Eagle 106.7 FM Atlanta

Rhubarb Jones

Tim Darnell makes us want to look behind today's strip mall and find the shade of that old magnolia. Progress is, forever, a relative term. And sometimes that means looking backwards to appreciate the walk forward.
— WGCL-TV Sports

Jon Nelson