# Macon Peaches

The Macon Peaches was the predominant name of the American minor league baseball franchise representing Macon, Georgia, during the 20th century.
Although Macon did not field teams during and immediately after World War I, the height of the Great Depression and World War II, the name Peaches was used continuously between 1907 and 1955, except for 1916–1917. The Peaches nickname was also used from 1961–1964, 1966–1967, and 1980–1982. Much of that time, the Peaches played in the original South Atlantic "Sally" League, although they made brief appearances in the Southeastern League and the Southern Association. During the 1980s, the Peaches were members of the modern South Atlantic League. After 1929, the team played at Luther Williams Field.
Macon was represented by professional baseball teams in the 19th century and joined the Sally League in 1904 as the Highlanders. From 1956–1960, Macon's team was known as the Macon Dodgers, adopting the name of their parent club.
In 1980, a new Macon Peaches team formed and after 1982, this franchise adopted the name Redbirds and then Pirates. This team relocated to Augusta, Georgia and became the Augusta Pirates and were renamed again to Augusta GreenJackets.
After the 1990 season, the South Atlantic League returned to Macon with the relocation of the Sumter Braves and the Sumter Braves became the Macon Braves, Macon's last affiliated team and last South Atlantic League team. The Macon Braves relocated to Rome, Georgia and were renamed Rome Braves.

## Reds' farm team produced Rose, Pérez, May and Helms

From 1962–1964, the Peaches were an important upper-level affiliate (Double-A after 1962) of the Cincinnati Reds, producing Pete Rose, Tony Pérez, Lee May and Tommy Helms. All four were members of Cincinnati's first "Big Red Machine" team, the 1970 National League champions. Rose and Pérez would be cornerstones of the dynasty, while May and Helms would be traded to the Houston Astros after 1971 to obtain Baseball Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan, who would help lead the Reds to the NL pennant in 1972 and World Series titles in 1975 and 1976.
Macon was Rose's last minor league address before he launched his Major League career as the 1963 National League Rookie of the Year. He had batted .330 for the 1962 Peaches.

## Macon Braves

The Macon Braves were a class-A minor league baseball team associated with the Atlanta Braves and was the transplanted Sumter Braves. The team was known as the Macon Braves from 1991 to 2002. In 2003, the Macon Braves were moved to Rome, Georgia. The team is now known as the Rome Braves. Luther Williams Field was the home stadium for the Macon Braves. After losing the Macon Braves, Macon was home to an Independent professional team, the Macon Music in the South Coast League, for one season (2007) as well as a different independent league baseball team known as the Macon Pinetoppers (2010) that called Luther Williams Field "home". Many well known major league players came from the Macon Braves, such as Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Rafael Furcal, Tony Graffanino, John Rocker, John Smoltz, and Marcus Giles.
An independent league baseball team called the Macon Peaches played in the 21st century Southeastern League in 2003.

## Notable alumni

* Al Lopez Inducted Baseball Hall of Fame, 1997
* Tony Pérez (1963) Inducted Baseball Hall of Fame, 2000
* John Smoltz (1998, 2001) Inducted Baseball Hall of Fame, 2015
* Chipper Jones (1991) Inducted Baseball Hall of Fame, 2018
* Moises Alou (1987) 6x MLB All-Star
* Steve Avery (2000) MLB All-Star
* Stan Belinda (1987)
* Matt Belisle (2000)
* Rube Benton (1910)
* Jim Brosnan (1966)
* Jackie Brown
* Smoky Burgess (1947) 9x MLB All-Star
* Al Campanis (1940)
* Bruce Chen (1997)
* Vince Coleman (1983) 2x MLB All-Star; 1985 NL Rookie of the Year
* Bruce Dal Canton (1967)
* Abner Dalrymple (1893) 1885 NL Home Run Leader
* Dock Ellis (1967) MLB All-Star
* Raymond Doster (1967-1968)
* Phil Douglas (1911)
* Jermaine Dye (1994) 2x MLB All-Star
* Rafael Furcal (1999) 3x MLB All-Star; 2000 NL Rookie of the Year
* Chick Fullis (1927)
* Marcus Giles (1998) MLB All-Star
* Tony Graffanino (1992)
* Tommy Helms (1962) 2x MLB All-Star; 1966 NL Rookie of the Year
* Wes Helms (1995)
* Bobo Holloman (1947–1948)
* Kelly Johnson (2001)
* Andruw Jones (1996) 10x Gold Glove; 5x MLB All-Star
* David Justice (1991) 3x MLB All-Star; 1990 NL Rookie of the Year
* Ray King (1996)
* Jason Marquis (1997) MLB All-Star
* Gordon Maltzberger
* Lee May (1963) 3x MLB All-Star; 1976 AL RBI Leader
* Bob Melvin (1981) 2x MLB Manager of the Year
* Orlando Merced (1986-1987)
* Pepper Martin (1955, MGR) 4x MLB All-Star
* Kevin Millwood (1994-1995, 2001) MLB All-Star; 2005 NL ERA Leader
* Bob Moose (1963)
* Billy Muffett (1955)
* Bobo Newsom (1930) 4x MLB All-Star
* Al Oliver (1967) 7x MLB All-Star; 1982 AL Batting Champion
* Bob Oliver (1967)
* Andy Pafko (1942) 5x MLB All-Star
* Tom Pagnozzi (1983) MLB All-Star
* Odalis Perez (1997) MLB All-Star
* Mel Queen (1962)
* Paul Richards (1929-1930)
* Pete Rose (1962) 17x MLB All-Star; 1963 NL Rookie of the Year; All-Time MLB Hits Leader
* Johnny Rucker
* Barney Schultz (1950)
* Art Shamsky (1962)
* John Smiley (1984-1985) 2x MLB All-Star
* Eddie Stanky (1939, 1941) 3x MLB All-Star
* Carl Taylor
* Hippo Vaughn (1909) 1918 NL ERA, Wins, Strikeout Leader
* Adam Wainwright (2001) 3x MLB All-Star