In 1909, Oliver Burnside Andrews and Johnny Dodds, manager, appealed to baseball’s Atlantic Southern League that Chattanooga deserved its own team. Andrews then proceeded to win approval from the league directors, began assembling a potential pennant-winning team by combining Chattanooga players with players purchased from a former Little Rock franchise and then secured funding for a new baseball field in Chattanooga. Once construction began, a contest to name the field was held and the overwhelming winner with 98 votes was Andrews Field. While Andrews attempted to deflect the honor by suggesting a more neutral name, the field was named in his honor.
So, who was O. B. Andrews? Andrews, a successful businessman and entrepreneur, was described in the Tennessee Encyclopedia as one of a “number of young men who are continually entering the field and giving their best talents and energies to building up and maintaining the high position which the city has already won as a manufacturing center.” Born in Chattanooga in 1882, he had attended private schools, graduated from Chattanooga High School and Alabama Polytechnic at Auburn. When only 18, he became an inspector of risks [a modern-day actuary] for the Fidelity Mutual Insurance Company in Philadelphia but, after five years, he returned home to organize a new business, the Acme Box Company, serving as secretary-treasurer and general manager. Baseball was his favorite pastime but, as much as he loved playing, he enjoyed the business aspects more. With Johnny Dobbs as manager, Andrews had created a team which won the pennant in the Sally Circuit and afterward captured the championship of the Dixie League. From that vision came Chattanooga’s membership in the Atlantic Southern League and more dreams of success.
Andrews would become a pillar of Chattanooga society before his death in his early 50s. He was a director of Hamilton National Bank, president of Andrews Paper Box Company, secretary of the Richmond Hosiery Mills, National VP of the Association of Box Makers, exalted ruler of the Elks and a member of the Masonic Order and Knights of Pythias. He was quoted as saying “the Chattanooga Golf and Country Club and the Mountain City Club” provided the only diversions from work he required.
Now, back to Chattanooga’s baseball story and Andrews Field.
Once the public suggestions had supported the name, Andrews Field, the major shareholders in the franchise endorsed the name. Z. C. Patten, Jr., said, “He was responsible for bringing the Sally league franchise here… and by doing he paved the way for our entrance into the Southern League. I think the honor of naming the field after him is well merited.” Granett Carter remarked, “Mr. Andrews is the one who brought baseball here. He got the park and all of it. Andrews Field is the right name.” The other directors - - Sterling Miller, Nathan Bachman, Johnny Dobbs and J. B. F. Lowry - - agreed.
By January 1910, the ballpark was ready for the final touches. One of the first visitors was John Murphy, manager and president of Baseball Magazine and its publishing company, who arrived from New York City to look at the park. After viewing the field, Murphy contracted for five times as much space as he had intended to, even saying that he would be back next year and “buy it all.” Why? It’s “the prettiest field I’ve seen in many a day and the prettiest field I ever saw in the South.” The Chattanooga directors celebrated his comment since he had visited every “fine baseball park in the United States” so when he praised the park, “it’s a compliment which has weight.”
Murphy first contracted for one sign, 150 feet high, and arranged for an expert to come from Boston to erect it. In addition to this sign, Mr. Murphy contracted for 450 additional feet of Andrews field fence upon which to “place high-class advertising.” As the news spread of Murphy’s belief in the Chattanooga franchise, more advertisers stepped forward.
With the field completed and the fence - - with a substantial advertising spaces purchased - - it was time to sell seats. The first purchase was made by 15 members of the Mountain City Club who dubbed themselves “The Philosophers’ Club;” they contracted for the pick of the boxes and presented a check to President Andrews. The member committed to “attend every baseball game at Andrews field in 1910.” The Elks Club and Calcumet Club purchased their own boxes with the Mountain City Club purchased two additional boxes.
O. B. Andrews and Johnny Dobbs admitted to the Chattanooga Daily Times that they went to church that night to give thanks for the fact that their dream was becoming a reality. Not only were contracts being signed guaranteeing a source of income, but, by January 10, the home clubhouse had been completed, the bleachers were two-thirds done and the diamond had been graded. The foundations for the grandstand was laid and concrete was scheduled to be poured the following day while a steam roller would compact the outfield. The final step on the field would occur on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 1910 when the outfield would be sown with grass seed and the diamond would be sodded. By Jan. 15, everything would be finished except the grandstand.
Chattanoogans were already imagining the sound of the umpires call - - ‘Play ball!’
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Linda Moss Mines is the official Chattanooga and Hamilton County historian.