Black Baseball in Bay County

Tampa, Florida, in the 1880s, and is speculated to have hit the streets of Panama City around the time of Farris’ death.

Without access to his brother’s financial resources, Descome was forced to sell Foreman Park to the Panama City Housing Authority at the end of the 1951 season, resulting in the end of the Foreman era.

For a brief two-year period between 1953 and 1954, the Panama City Stars represented the city’s Black community in the West Coast Negro League. In 1956, former Blue Sox manager Charles McCoy attempted to revive the Blue Sox name with local Bay County players including high school sensation William Miller at third base and veteran Carl “Cash” McLane on the mound. The revitalized team completed its final season that year playing on an unfamiliar diamond at Lions Park in Panama City. The park was demolished in 1966.

BLACK BASEBALL IN BAY COUNTY

The story of the Blue Sox fits within the broader background of Black baseball in Bay County. Unfortunately, the absence of an African American newspaper and the lack of coverage by local white sportswriters during that time has made it difficult to fully comprehend the context of the Black game.

The first local Black baseball team to garner attention was the Panama City Tigers. The Tigers operated between 1940 and 1943 and performed home games at Pelican Park. The team’s roster included several notable players in the region. Charles “Two Sides” Wesley, a former member of the Birmingham Black Barons, and Sylvester “Good Black” Owens, also a Black Baron, anchored the team along with rookie pitcher Charles McCoy, who later managed the revitalized Blue Sox. In 1943, the Tigers traveled to Birmingham, Alabama, to play a memorable game against the city’s Negro All-Stars at Rickwood Stadium, the oldest professional baseball park in America.

The Shinetown Crackers fielded a team for one season after the Tigers disbanded. The arrival of Tyndall Field in 1941 added another feature to local Black baseball. Segregation within the Armed Forces extended to recreational sport and African American servicemen created the Tyndall Red Caps to play other military bases. Wartime travel constraints made it challenging