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Special Collections Online at UT

Chattanooga Lookouts Photographs

 Collection
Identifier: MS-2177

  • Staff Only

This collection consists of two undated photographs dealing with the Chattanooga Lookouts baseball team. The first of these photographs features five men chatting in front of a pole reading Rock City. Three of the men are wearing team jerseys: one reading LOOKOUTS, one reading SENATORS, and one reading Timers. The other two men are dressed in baseball attire, but their team affiliation is not clear. The second photograph shows a crowd (presumably watching a baseball game) in Chattanooga's Engel Stadium.

Dates

  • undated

Conditions Governing Access

Collections are stored offsite and must be requested in advance. See www.special.lib.utk.edu for detailed information. Collections must be requested through a registered Special Collections research account.

Conditions Governing Use

The UT Libraries claims only physical ownership of most material in the collections. Persons wishing to broadcast or publish this material must assume all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants on www.special.lib.utk.edu for detailed information. Collections must be requested through a registered Special Collections research account.

Extent

0.1 Linear Feet

Abstract

This collection consists of two photographs relating to the Chattanooga Lookouts baseball team. One of them portrays a Lookouts player standing with four other men in baseball attire, and the other depicts a crowd, presumably watching a baseball game, in Chattanooga's Engel Stadium.

Biographical/Historical Note

Chattanooga's first professional baseball team was formed in 1885, when Chattanooga became a charter member of the Southern League. This team remained in Chattanooga for ten years, at which time the franchise was sold and moved to Mobile, Alabama. A new team was formed when Chattanooga became a charter member of the Southern Association in 1901, but this franchise was sold and moved to Montgomery, Alabama, only a year later. Baseball restarted in 1910 when the Southern Association franchise in Little Rock, Arkansas, relocated to Chattanooga. After winning championships in 1932, 1939, 1952, and 1961, the team was inactive between 1966 and 1975. The Lookouts returned to Chattanooga in 1976 as a member of the Southern League affiliated with the Oakland Athletics. They became affiliated with the Cleveland Indians in 1978, with the Seattle Mariners in 1983, and finally with the Cincinnati Reds in 1987. The team was sold to Richard Holtzman in 1987 and again to Frank Burke, Daniel Burke, and Charles Eshbach in 1995, but neither sale moved the Lookouts out of Chattanooga.

Engel Stadium was the Chattanooga Lookouts' home stadium from their first game there on April 15, 1930 until 2000. The Lookouts' president, Frank Burke, announced his intention to build a privately funded baseball stadium for the Lookouts on Hawk Hill in downtown Chattanooga in November of 1998, contingent upon the sale of 10 luxury boxes and the Lookouts' 1,800th season ticket. Construction began in March of 1999, and the Lookouts played their first game in the new BellSouth Park on April 10, 2000.

Arrangement

Collection consists of a single folder.

Acquisition Note

The Special Collections Library purchased this collection in June of 2000.

Repository Details

Part of the Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Repository

Contact:
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Knoxville TN 37996 USA
865-974-4480