Playing first at Warren Park, near today's Exchange Club Fairgrounds, and later at Jennings Stadium, close to 15th Street and Walton Way, professional teams with a variety of names have attracted Augusta fans.

In fact, one of the first in-door games played under the lights by a professional team took place in Augusta in 1902 when the Boston Pilgrims - the team we now know as the Red Sox - took on a local squad inside the old armory on Ninth Street.

The tight confines of the armory forced both teams to use miniature bats, but the Boston team still won easily, 21-8.

Over the years, Augusta's mild climate attracted many major league teams for spring training, including John McGraw's New York Giants. President Warren Harding enjoyed watching a game when he was in town for rest and golf.

Featured advertisers

Twice earlier this century, Augustans turned out to honor local boys who became World Series heroes. In 1914, a banquet honored George Stallings, manager of the "Miracle Braves." And in 1920, Jim Busby, a pitching and hitting star of the Cleveland Indians, received a similar homecoming.

But by far the biggest star of Augusta baseball was Ty Cobb, the greatest player of his day - and some say of all time.

A Georgian, Cobb began his career as a teenage outfielder for the Augusta Tourists in 1904.

He courted and married a local girl - Charlie Lombard. They built a home and raised a family on Williams Street.

He finished his incredible career with dozens of records, including the highest lifetime batting average in major league history.

Cobb, known as the "Georgia Peach," was also one of the top celebrities of his day - a man who golfed with presidents, made a fortune on investments and even played the theater circuit.

On the field, Cobb taunted opponents as well as teammates, threatening them with his sharpened spikes, his bat or his fists. Away from the field, Cobb was frequently hauled into court for his assaults on fans, hotel porters, even a neighborhood butcher.

But his reputation doesn't change what he did as a ballplayer.

One of the five original inductees to the baseball Hall of Fame, Cobb tried out for the Augusta Tourists in 1904 with limited success.

The next season, however, he returned to the Tourists and tore up the league.

On Aug. 8, 1905, Cobb was batting .320 with 40 stolen bases, the most in the South Atlantic League, when he was told that his mother had accidentally shot his father.

Eight days after the funeral, with his life turned upside down, Cobb was called up to the Detroit Tigers. His major-league debut came on Aug. 30.

Cobb's hobbies included shooting game, playing golf at Augusta Country Club, raising bird dogs and investing his money. He was briefly president and owner of Ty Cobb Tire Co., and he bought parcels of land around town.

Visitors to his home included golfer Bobby Jones, a fellow Georgian who, despite his gracious nature, was - like Cobb - known to expect nothing less than perfection from himself.

Today the Augusta GreenJackets, an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, play at Lake Olmstead Stadium.

The Augusta team has been a regular playoff contender in the South Atlantic League, last winning a year-end championship in 1999.