Randy Dickson: Pro baseball once was a Crestview summer tradition

This weekend we celebrate our nation’s 233rd birthday.

When I think about the Fourth of July my mind wanders to fireworks and baseball celebrations.

Long before Major League players signed multi-million dollar contracts offered to them by billionaire team owners, baseball belonged to the people.

Back in that day more players coming out of high school opted for minor league baseball rather than college. And for at least three years Crestview was part of the excitement.

From 1954-56 the Crestview was home to the Class D Braves of the old Alabama-Florida League. It’s just a guess on my part, but I wonder if the Crestview team took the name of the Braves because of Lance Richbourg. My research shows the Braves played their games at Richbourg Field.

Some of the other towns in the league were Fort Walton Beach, Graceville, Pensacola and Panama City as well as Alabama teams Andalusia, Dothan, Brewton and Evergreen, just to name a few.

The Pensacola team played its games in Admiral Mason Stadium, which was located near the bay on Ninth Avenue. The Alabama-Florida League shut down in 1962. By the time my family moved to Gulf Breeze in the fall of 1966 there were no games played in Admiral Mason.

About my only connection to the old league is with a former player, Marshall Renfroe, who played for Crestview in 1954 and Pensacola in 1957.

A left-handed pitcher, Renfroe made it to the Major Leagues for one game with the San Francisco Giants in September of 1959. He lasted two innings in the big leagues and then knocked around the minors for a few more years before going back home to Gulf Breeze.

I didn’t know Renfroe very well. His family was a founding family of First Baptist Church of Gulf Breeze and ran an auto body shop in Gulf Breeze.

Marshall was one of four brothers. Dalton, a younger brother, was a catcher in the Philadelphia system. D was a mute, Colin served as mayor of Gulf Breeze for several years.

I played church league softball against Dalton, D and Colin. I never had the chance to play against Marshall, who was died after a tragic accident on the Pensacola Bay Bridge. The accident occurred after Marshall stopped to help a stranded motorist.

My dad did play with Marshall in pickup games the men of the church had on an old diamond on the back of the property. Dad would often tell of a shot Marshall hit over the church building as the other men of the church stood in awe of his talent.

Marshall Renfroe was 18 when he suited up for the Crestview Braves in that long ago summer.

I think it would be sort of neat to have a time machine and travel back to 1954 and see a young Marshall Renfroe play baseball and Lance Richbourg Field.

From what my dad told me, Marshall was some kind of good. And yes, some of us still remember.

Do you remember the old Crestview Braves? The Crestview News Bulletin would like to share your stories. Contact News Bulletin Sports Editor Randy Dickson at 682-6524 or e-mail randyd@crestviewbulletin.com.