Sandy Springs sandlot baseball
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The Morgan Falls Athletic Complex is on 27.26 acres at 450 Morgan Falls Place in Sandy Springs off Roswell Road. The complex includes t-ball and baseball fields, a football field, concession stand, picnic pavilion, and a playground.
The park was first planned by Fulton County in 1967. Two parks were planned for the southern part of Fulton County in Palmetto and near Fairburn, and two parks in Sandy Springs, Hammond and Morgan Falls. (Atlanta Constitution, March 30, 1967, “Four Parks Planned by Fulton”)
Baseball games were popular in Sandy Springs long before Morgan Falls Athletic Complex existed. The community had a sandlot team, sometimes referred to as the “Sandy Springs nine” in the Atlanta newspapers.
According to “Images of America Sandy Springs,” by Kimberly M. Brigance and Morris V. Moore many games were played at an unofficial ballpark between Boyleston Drive, Hammond Drive, Mount Vernon Highway and Roswell Road.
Baseball had begun by 1934 in Sandy Springs, because an outdoor meeting and wiener roast was held in August of that year to plan and raise money for uniforms. (Atlanta Constitution, August 8, 1934)
This 1940s Sandy Springs baseball team includes, front row, left to right, Bill Sewell, Carl Jameson, Al Holbrook, George Coleman and Hubert Nix. On the back row, left to right, Charles Sewell, Billy Hair, Doyle Mabry, Richard Coleman and Richard Johnson. This team played on a ball field between Roswell Road, Boyleston Road, Mt. Vernon Highway, and Hammond Drive. (Photo is from “Images of America: Sandy Springs,” by Kimberly M. Brigance and Morris V. Moore on behalf of Heritage Sandy Springs.)
When the Regenstein family moved to ten acres on Mount Vernon Highway in 1946, Robert Regenstein became an umpire at the baseball field. When his efforts to bring city of Atlanta water to Sandy Springs were successful in 1950, the community held a Fourth of July celebration, which included square dancing and baseball.
When Robert and Jean’s daughter Barbara was born, employees of Regenstein’s store bought a baby sized baseball uniform for her. The couple took Barbara to the Sandy Springs field in the uniform.
Scheduled league games for August 1, 1948, included Sandy Springs at Roswell and Alpharetta at Austell as part of the North Atlanta League; Dunwoody at Smyrna, State League; Irvindale Dairy vs. Tucker at Piedmont Park and Norcross at Duluth in the County League.
The Atlanta papers regularly reported on the various sandlot team results and the special achievements of the players. Bill Hardigree of Sandy Springs was the fielding star of a game against the Federal Pen (Penitentiary) team. Sandy Springs won seven to four and Hardigree got six of those seven runs. (Atlanta Constitution, “Hardigree Leads Sandy Springs,” Sept. 17, 1951)
John Davis moved to Sandy Springs with his family in 1962 at the age of ten. Little League baseball had recently become popular in the community. Davis recalled, “By the 1960s, baseball in Sandy Springs had taken on a life of its own and had become part of the town’s spirit, even if there was no official place to play it.” Local businesses and organizations sponsored teams, buying sports equipment and uniforms including Arlington Cemetery, the Optimist Club, Swofford Shoes, Northside Pharmacy, and Bondurant Sporting Goods. (Sandy Springs Gazette 2018, “Root, Root, Root for the Home Team”)
Davis played on a team sponsored by Arlington Cemetery. He remembered the team marching down Roswell Road as part of a parade. The league played on fields at Mount Vernon Baptist Church and St. John United Methodist Church and at local elementary school fields.
According to the Oct. 1, 1948 Atlanta Constitution, the Sandy Springs baseball team of 1947 won the Fulton County sandlot baseball team title. They were honored with a banquet held by the East Point Elks Club.