CMYK

The Chattahoochee Valley League:A Real Life ‘Gone with the Wind’ Story

By Holly Hereth

For the people of Valley,memories of mill-town base-ball leagues are of more thanballs and bats.Baseball is a simple sym-

bol of a way of life that ceas-es to exist outside of stories.But boy, are there stories.“My dad said the place we

grew up only exists in ourhearts and in our heads,” saysDonald Leak, son of DossLeak, the former director ofthe recreation department atWest Point Pepperell.But Leak, like many base-

ball guys older than him,refuses to forget that place.

Now retired, he has takenit upon himself to gather pho-tos, old score sheets, newsclippings and other memora-bilia to preserve that placethat only exists in hearts andheads.Leak is eager for the stories

of the old players to be heard.As he drives through each

old mill village, he can barelyfinish a sentence about oneplayer without interruptinghimself to point out the homeof another, or the site where agrandstand used to it.“The whole place has gone tohell in a hand-basket,” saysLeak as he drives throughRiverView. “It’s just like‘Gone With the Wind,’ butthe Southern town is a cottonmill. It is a community and away of life that is totally goneand will probably never beback.”And just like the Old South

in “Gone With the Wind,”America’s favorite pastime isindeed a past time in Valley,but the stories must be told.

Danny Milner“Looking at all these pho-

tos, all these people are dead,”says Danny Milner as helooks through stacks of oldpictures of the old RiverViewteams when he used to play inthe C.V. League.Chattahoochee Valley

League, that is. That was thename of the league funded byWest Point Pepperell.It was made up of five

teams, one representing thefour mill village and one forLanett.The league runs deep in

Danny’s blood. He was theson of one of the nine leg-endary Milner boys, all ofwhom played in the C.V.League.Danny’s father went by the

name “Hugar” because hissister tried to call him “Sugar”when they were kids, butcouldn’t pronounce the “s.”The name stuck like a ball in amitt, and he went on to be agreat baseball player.Many years later, Danny

inherited his talent and love ofthe game.He played for 10 years for

the Riverview team and isquick to admit that RiverViewwas the best team around.

“The biggest rivalry wasbetween RiverView andLangdale,” says Milner.

“We always thought wewere the best, but they hadsome good players too. Therewere real rivalries, and thefans were into the rivalriesjust as much or more thantheir teams were.”Milner remembers baseball

as an integral part of mill lifein RiverView. If you didn’tplay ball, you watched.“When we played at home,

you could walk outside theweave shop and walk up tothe fence and see the game,”says Milner.In 1953, when Milner was

19, RiverView won the C.V.League championship.The team’s prize was a trip

to the World Series in NewYork City to watch theDodgers play the Yankees.“[West Point Pepperell’s

sales agent] carried us to din-ner one night, and if my mem-ory serves me correctly, it wasto a place called Charles’French Restaurant,” saysMilner.After every season, win-

ning or not, the RiverViewteam would travel to DeadLakes, Fla., to celebrate theseason together. “We justdrank a lot of beer and told alot of lies,” says Danny.After years of playing ball

in 1964, Milner, his wifeAlice, and their two sonsThomas and Brent, moved toOpelika for a better-payingjob.“When we moved down

here, it about killed Thomasthat he didn’t have a ballpark... across the street fromthe house,” says Milner.Baseball had made its way

down through three genera-tions.“All nine boys (in his fami-

ly) and their sons played, andall the grandsons played, butit was almost over when thegrandsons played,” says

Milner.No leagues are left since the

company closed, but Dannyand Alice still go to church inValley.It’s terrible to see the mill

villages abandoned, he says.“It’s just awful,” says

Milner. “It’ll make you wantto cry.”

Fred “Boochie” GrahamBoochie Graham sits in his

front yard with his wife, Joan,directly across the street fromthe old RiverView baseballfield.He wears a hat that says,

“Retired. Do it yourself!“ as

he sits on a bench swing in hisfront yard.Theirs is one of the only

yards on GI Street that iscleanly manicured.“It’s pretty quiet back here,

except when the kids get outof school,” says Graham.“They all congregate out

here.”The signs of life that the

kids playing pick-up baseballgive are a world away fromthe signs that Graham remem-bers when he used to play ballfor RiverView.“We used to have big

crowds,” says Graham.“There used to be anotherbleacher over there.”Milner points just across

the street where the grand-stand used to sit. “It wasalways full when we playedLangdale because it was a bigrivalry.”Graham started playing

baseball when he was 17 and

joined the Navy a year laterwhen he turned 18.It was the end of World

War II, and he didn’t want toget drafted for the Army.He spent most of his time

stationed in Columbus, Ga.,but Graham couldn’t stayaway from RiverView base-

ball too long.“I would save up my leave

to come and play in the tour-nament,” he says. The yearthat RiverView won the C.V.League tournament, Grahamcouldn’t join the team fortheir prize trip to the WorldSeries, but he didn’t care. Forhim, it was all about the base-ball. “I never was crazy aboutgoing to New York,” he says.Before, in between and

after his time in the Navy,Graham worked in the millfor a total of 40 years.He started at the age of 16

working in the weave room,and eventually worked hisway up to being a supervisor.“If you played ball, you

pretty much worked firstshift,” says Graham.The first-shift crew got to

work the morning and earlyafternoon hours, giving themthe evenings to play ball.“The Company took care ofthe players.”Graham says Joe Lanier,

former-owner of West PointPepperell, took care of theplayers so well because heloved the sport so much him-self. “After the ball games, wealways had a big eatin’, and[Mr. Lanier] was alwaysthere,” says Graham.Though he can’t play base-

ball anymore, Graham doesplay golf in Phenix City mostTuesdays and Thursdays.“You just have to go with

the flow,” Graham says.“Can’t do nothing about it.But I tell Joan if I win the lot-tery, I’m gonna buy all thesehouses and fix them up andrent them to decent people.”“He ain’t gonna do that,”

Joan retorts.“Well, I probably ain’t

gonna win the lottery.”Graham smiles and looks outat the overgrown field acrossthe street.

Donnie RayA generation below Milner

and Graham, Donnie and histwin brother, Ronnie, mayhave been small for athletes,but they sure could throw.Donnie sits in the sportsroom in his Shawmut homewhere the walls are coveredfloor-to-ceiling with picturesof Paul “Bear” Bryant.Donnie and Ronnie first

started to play catcher for theRiverView pony-league team,a team for younger boys, inthe 1960s.They were too short for the

company-given uniforms sotheir dad had to buy them cus-tom-made uniforms.The pony league was for

boys around the ages 16 and17, and they played accordingto the C.V. League’s sched-ule, but the younger boyswould play in the summermornings on the oppositefield as the men.If the RiverView men

played Langdale at home, theRiverView boys would playLangdale away.After a Pony-League cham-

pionship, Donnie and Ronniemoved up to play with themen.“I started out as a bat drag-

ger,” says Donnie. “Afterdoing that for a year, we gotto play with the men.I’d play third base, and

Ronnie would play secondbase. We thought we were inthe major leagues.”With the help of the older

Boochie Graham, who tookspecial interest in Donnie andRonnie, the twins ended upbeing great ball players.They were commissioned

to play with the Baby Bulls, ateam of all black players fromall around Valley.“Ronnie and I would get

paid $5 a game to play,”Donnie says. “We were theonly two whites. We’d beplaying ball, and they’d becooking all kinds of soulfood.”Donnie and Ronnie played

through the end of the base-ball era in the Valley and intothe times when softballbecame popular.“When community softball

came in, it killed baseball,”says Donnie, seated in a crim-son red Alabama recliner. “Itjust slowly took over, I don’tknow why.”Though Donnie now lives

in Shawmut, he is proud to befrom RiverView. “My heart’sin RiverView, but my tail’s inShawmut,” he says in a sing-song voice, as if he is used toexplaining his loyalties.Just a few miles down the

road, Donnie says he makes itover to RiverView frequently.“[Driving through there]

really brings out memories,”Donnie says. “That’s where Iplayed pony league.That’s where I played soft-

ball tournaments. That’swhere I played with the men.They can take the baseballfields, but they can’t take thememories.”

Contributed by the City of Valley

The 1967 SlowPitch Champions reflect the joys of a long history of Valley baseball championships.

1966 Shawmut Champs accept trophy for efforts.

Early RiverView team group photo reflects baseball legacy in area.Contributed by the City of Valley

This baseball team was one in long line of teams that played for Langdale.

Contributed by the City of Valley

Contributed by the City of Valley

12 Valley Vision Spring 2010