The Brickyard
McDuffie Turns 150
Join us in celebrating the 150th birthday of McDuffie County! We will be sharing historic highlights from the county (like the one below) over the next year.
The Brickyard was born out of tragedy when a lightning bolt shot down upon Thomson High School in 1937 and burned the facility to the ground. All that was left were the outside bricks that held it together. Those bricks were collected and used to build the Brickyard... one of Georgia's most revered high school football stadiums and for one year in 1956... a Minor League Ballpark.
The facility was a certainly a fine one, with a full roof and dugouts and a well built grandstand. The structure it was built on was certainly sturdy enough considering the amount of brickwork that lay underneath it.
The Thomson Orioles were announced for the 1956 season, and while the rest of Minor League Baseball was losing the interest of the American baseball fan, Thomson was downright excited about the novelty of pro baseball coming to town. 3 teams in the 6 team league drew 20,000 or less... Hazlehurst didn't break 10,000. Thomson meanwhile easily led the league with 40,000 fans at The Brickyard... 8,000 more than the 2nd best team. Thomson would finish in 4th but still made the playoffs somehow, losing to Sandersville in the 1st round.
The Thomson Orioles were a surprise and easily provided the strongest showing of any Georgia State city. While that should have helped Thomson, it in fact hurt. The Georgia State League realized that it couldn't go on with Thomson as its only reliable franchise. The league would fold after the 1956 season. Thomson found itself an exciting new franchise without a league to play in, and its one great season of professional baseball would go down in history. 30 years later, its famed baseball grandstand was demolished, though its supports... sides, back and front, still remain as a reminder of that one memorable season. The Baltimore Orioles Class D franchise in Thomson, was one that will be remembered in Thomson for generations.
Excerpt from Digital Ballpark
Visit our online store to purchase any of the below books.
More stories about Thomson high school football can be found in the book: Ghosts of the Brickyard by John Barnett & Alvin Richardson.
More stories about McDuffie County can be found in the book: McDuffie County, Celebrating 150 Years: Over 200 sketches and stories of the people and places of McDuffie County in celebration of its founding on October 18, 1870. Compiled by Lewis & Joann Smith.
More historic images of McDuffie County can be found in the book: Images of America, McDuffie County by Chase Beggs.