MACON, Ga. — History was made on Luther Williams Field, Sunday night when the Macon Bacon took out the Savannah Bananas for the first championship by a Macon baseball team since 1962. Everybody in the organization from the president to the players said it was the perfect way to end a summer that almost didn't happen.
It had not been since the days of Pete Rose and the beginning of Cincinnati's Big Red Machine had a Macon baseball team won a title, but with a double play in the ninth inning, Sunday, the drought ended.
"There's such rich history of baseball here in Central Georgia. We are very fortunate to be able to play here. We feel that way and Luther Williams Field is like our own 'Field of Dreams,'" said team president Brandon Raphael.
In the Bacon's third year in Macon, Raphael brought in Head Coach Jimmy Turk. Turk called himself a winner prior the championship, but gave all the praise to the players he brought in.
"At the end of the day, they're the ones that play they get all the credit, man. I'm just happy for those guys that they could finish and do well and end it with a championship," Turk said.
Macon jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead over the Bananas, but it was Josh Hood's three-run home run bomb in the 3rd inning that gave them a firm grasp on the game. It's a summer he won't soon forget.
"I believe it was a 0-1 curveball that he slept over the plate and I was able to put a good swing on it," Hood said. "It was a very important summer. It was a summer I needed, it was a summer many people needed in this crisis."
He and pitcher Ty Bothwell said they didn't realize the history they were playing for, but they were proud to be a part of it.
"I was like, 'Oh, dang, this is way bigger than all of us, that's for sure.' We really wanted to bring it home for Macon, that's for sure," Bothwell said.
"That's what sports is all about," Raphael said. "That's what brings us all together and even with all the stuff that's going on right now, sports gives us something to be happy about."
League baseball may be over the Bacon do still have a few exhibition games left on their schedule through September.