FRANK MOFFETT

KNOXVILLE BASEBALL PROMOTER

A Brief Biographical Sketch

Ronald R Allen

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Having read recently that Frank Moffett's name is not included among the names of those who have been selected to Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame, I decided to compose this brief sketch. Moffett was perhaps the most avid promoter of baseball in Knoxville -- ever. He managed Knoxville baseball teams for most of the years beginning in 1893 until his final year as manager of the Smokies in the Southern Association during the 1929 season. I knew virtually nothing about Moffett until I read about him in a couple of long-ago newspaper accounts a few years ago, and eventually decided to follow-up with some additional research concerning his career. While his activities were in former years, the story of his career seemed to be worth telling.

Moffett's name appears in an article in the Knoxville Journal in 1891, when he was a member of Knoxville's first football team. He was the right end for the first organized football game in Knoxville, played at the Lake Ottosee (Chilhowee Park) field on May 15, 1891, against a team from Maryville. Knoxville won the game, 4 - 2. In November, 1891, the newly organized Knoxville Athletic Club football team played a football game against a team from Harriman, and Moffett was listed in the local newspaper report as starting at right tackle for the Knoxville team. However, the newspaper report of the result of that game do not include Moffett's name as having played, but later that year, the Journal reported that a new local football team called the Rushers had been organized, with Moffett the newly elected team captain.

In 1892, Knoxville's professional baseball team, the Reds, did not field a baseball team. That year, a local team called the DeHarts did organize a team, and Frank Moffett pitched for that aggregation when they defeated a team from Harriman, in a game played at the old Asylum street grounds that year. The DeHarts later also played a benefit contest that season against a team hastily assembled that consisted of men who had played for the old disbanded Knoxville Reds team.

The first mention of Moffett as a manager of a Knoxville baseball team was in 1893, when he was the player-manager for the Reds baseball team in 1893. The Reds, a professional team, had played in the 1870's and 1880's, but the 1891 team had been short-lived, the team disbanded early in the season, and no team had been organized in 1892. The 1893 team was organized after Moffett and a Mr Jobe were unsuccessful in establishing a new league including Knoxville and teams from Tennessee and North Carolina. The Southern Railway denied use of the Asylum (Western) Street park that spring and Moffett secured permission to use the old playing field near the corner of University avenue and Asylum for that season. After a couple of early season victories against a team from Athens, the Reds took on a superior team from Sioux City, in Knoxville, and dropped all three games, as Moffett discovered in his early baseball career that he would be often saddled with Knoxville teams that were mediocre at best, and with local fans who as often as not didn't attend the games, either in large numbers or with regularity.

After initially announcing that the Reds would play their home games in 1894 at the Lake Ottosee (Chilhowee Park) field, Moffett accepted an offer to pay off the team's outstanding debts from the 1893 season if he would move the team to a field in Smithwood, near Fountain City. The fences and grandstand were removed to the new site, and the Reds opened the season at the new facility in June, 1894, in a series at Chattanooga. Moffett's Reds played most of their games that season at the Smithwood field, and while the initial crowds were encouraging, fans soon were becoming increasingly reluctant to make the trip to Fountain City to watch games. By season's end attendance had dwindled considerably.

The Southern Railway made the Asylum Street site available once again in 1895, through an agreement with the company's vice president, W. H. Baldwin, Jr. Frank Moffett moved the team back to the old field nearer the city, and at his recommendation the field was renamed Baldwin Park. Moffett achieved better success at Baldwin Park than he had achieved at the Fountain City park, as the team averaged around four hundred spectators in 1895, after early season admonitions to local fans that their previous excuse for not attending games at the distant Smithwood diamond was no longer valid. The unwillingness of local fans to attend games at the Fountain City park continued to be obvious in the spring of 1895, when a paltry one hundred and fifty spectators watched an exhibition game at that site played by the professional Pittsburgh team. The Knoxville team was now referred to as the Indians. At Baldwin Park, Moffett used various gimmicks to draw fans to games that year, such as hiring a colored man to carry a sign and ring a cow bell while walking down Gay street, promoting local games played by the Indians. Following that season, Moffett announced that Knoxville would not be in the Southern Association in 1896, as had been hoped, the primary reason being that league's mandatory $1200 per month salary for players.

In 1896, crowds were initially acceptable, but soon attendance dropped and Moffett reported again that he was losing money. The Journal chimed in, admonishing locals and saying that the team deserved at least four times the usual patronage at games. It didn't help Moffett's cause when he was accused of attempting to lure players from the Maysville, Kentucky team to play for his Knoxville nine. But Moffett pushed on, continuing promotional antics that once included playing a Cherokee Indian named Lloyd Owl at every position on the team in one game, before Owl -- who reportedly possessed only minimal talent, and had come to Knoxville thinking the Indians were a team of actual American Indians -- was sent packing back to his home in North Carolina. Most contests in 1896 were played at Baldwin Park in Knoxville, but even without the travel expenses Moffett reported that he was still losing money, and attendance had dwindled to the point that the Journal reported there were more players than fans at the park when the final game of the season was played.

Turning down an offer to manage the Asheville, North Caroling team in 1897, Moffett traveled to Nashville to meet with others to create a new Southeastern League, including Knoxville, Chattanooga, Asheville, Atlanta, and Columbus. The league was established, but poor attendance doomed the league from the start, as Chattanooga soon dropped out and the league folded. Moffett kept the Indians together that year, playing games against teams including Louisville, Asheville, Maysville, and other cities, although attendance continued to be sparse, usually drawing no more than two hundred fans to games, and one game attracting a paltry thirty spectators. Moffett continued innovative moves that season, including designating a section of bleachers for African American spectators, but to little avail. For the season, Moffett again lost money, and said if attendance did not get better he would be unable to field a team in 1898.

Moffett again fielded a team in 1898, but they played a very limited schedule against teams such as an Army team from a camp in Chattanooga and a few games against Johnson City. He threw in the towel, losing money once again, as crowds of fewer that one hundred people showed up for games in Knoxville.

Following a newspaper announcement that Moffett had been appointed as coach of the University of Tennessee baseball team in April, It was apparently an incorrect report, since later that month the coach of that team was W. R. Harrison. Frank Moffett managed a team in Union, South Carolina in 1899. But by September he was back in Knoxville, his South Carolina team having run away with the competition, and finding no opponents had disbanded. Knoxville had no professional team in 1899, although Moffett did organize a team to play one game at Baldwin Park on October 12, 1899, against an "All Professional" team that consisted of former Knoxville Reds players, a team the Journal described as "Knoxville favorites, when baseball was in its palmest days in this city."

After another two years when there was professional baseball in Knoxville, Moffett again organized a Knoxville team in 1902, again called the Indians. The team did not play in a league that season. Moffett again fielded a team in 1903, but it continued to operate on shaky ground, with poor attendance, and he was reportedly considering an offer to manage the team at Bristol. The team remained in Knoxville, but despite attempts to increase attendance by making every Tuesday Ladies Day, with free admission for those of the fairer sex, attendance was not much better, and in a series against a team from Louisville, Kentucky in late June a local newspaper reported that the gate receipts were "about ten dollars." Frank Moffett then took the Louisville team to Bristol to play that city's team rather than continuing to lose money in Knoxville. He returned to Knoxville and said he would divide the Knoxville team and fill some positions with members of the UT team and local players. Moffett persisted, and in September his team played a series of games in Knoxville against a team from Portland, Ohio. Following that game, the Journal and Tribune reported "the bottom has dropped out of the sport evidently, and no matter how high class ball is played, it is a miracle when more than two hundred people are present to enjoy the game." Following a trip to Columbus, Georgia, the team returned to Knoxville for a scheduled series against the same Portsmouth team, but small crowds convinced Moffett to again cease operations for the year. The team did play one final game in Knoxville, on Labor Day, a contest against a local aggregation.

Frank Moffett's Knoxville team joined the Tennessee - Alabama League in 1904. By early July, Knoxville was leading the standings. But the league was on shaky ground, two teams dropped out reducing the number of teams from eight to six, and by July the league had folded. In July, Knoxville played a series of games against a team from Cincinnati. Moffett was reportedly offered the job to manage the Decatur team, but instead he went to Brevard North Carolina to manage a newly established team in that city. The Knoxville team continued to play following Moffett's departure. Games were then being played at the Chilhowee Park field, and in late August Knoxville played games against Moffett's Brevard team at that site. Moffett then returned to Knoxville with his team, called the Independents, playing a five game series against the Portsmouth, Ohio team, at Chilhowee Park. Following that series, he again said he had lost money bringing teams to Knoxville and the season was over.

Moffett managed the Knoxville team that played in the short-lived Tennessee Alabama Georgia League (TAG) in 1905, a short-lived league. The teams were Knoxville, Huntsville, Sheffield, Rome, Chattanooga, and Dalton. Knoxville's first game was played against Chattanooga, in that city, on May 30, but by June 12 Knoxville had dropped out of the league and Moffett had relocated his Redskins team to Chattanooga. A local newspaper writer in Knoxville summed up Moffett's annual plight as follows : " about this time every summer Moffett almost invariably folds his tent, packs up his bats, and steals away where he can make expenses for the team ... this sort of thing has happened almost as long as the oldest inhabitant can remember ... Moffett's annual move is caused by the lukewarm support accorded the good teams which he always makes up for his home town. The attendance runs anywhere from fifty to two hundred persons, a probable average of one hundred and fifty. Baseball teams can't be paid and managers can't make money on such propositions as this ... " By July, Moffett had relocated in Asheville, where the team was called the "Knoxville - Asheville" team. Attendance was good at Riverside Park, and a series was scheduled in Knoxville the following week. Returning to Knoxville, the team again was being called the Knoxville Indians, and continued to play against various competition in Knoxville into September.

Knoxville's Indians continued in 1906, with Frank Moffett as the manager, playing their home games at Chilhowee Park. Attendance was better at the East Knoxville site, with attendance averaging more than six hundred spectators. That year, opponents included teams from Memphis, Asheville, Johnson City, Cincinnati, Dayton, Chattanooga, and occasionally against local teams. Knoxville was in a league that season.

Moffett began the 1907 season as manager of a newly organized team in Chattanooga. But despite winning seventeen of their first eighteen games, crowds continued to diminish, he sold the team to Darlington, and went to that city as the team's manager. Meanwhile, Knoxville did field a team that season, called the Chilhowees, managed by Am Gaines.

Moffett returned at manager of Knoxville in 1908. Again the team's name was the Independents. Their home games continued to be played at Chilhowee Park, and their opponents included teams from Chattanooga, Athens, Lexington, Harriman, Nebraska, and Tuscaloosa. They were not in a league that year,

Knoxville's Indians replaced Charleston in the South Atlantic (Sally) League, on July 3. The new manager was Steve Griffin. Local newspapers referred to the team as the Orphans. In the meantime, Frank Moffett continued to manage another local team, still known as the Knoxville Independents, a team that was competing only against local teams that year.

Knoxville left the South Atlantic League and joined the Class D Southeastern League in 1910. Once again, Frank Moffett was the team manager, and Knoxville won the league championship. The team was called the Appalachians, and their home games were still being played at the Chilhowee Park field.

Moffett continued as manager in 1911, as Knoxville joined the Class D Appalachian League. That year, following a mid-season slump, they moved the site of their home games from Chilhowee Park to Brewer's Park, in a section of what originally had been the site of the Old Fair Grounds. At the new venue, the team improved dramatically and by season's end they barely lost the pennant to the team from Johnson City. his Knoxville team The team returned to Chilhowee Park in 1912, as manager Moffett led them to another second place finish, again barely losing the championship, this time to Bristol.

Frank Moffett continued as the Knoxville manager in 1913. Johnson City won the first half and Knoxville took the second half, the Appalachian League season now split into two halves. In the playoff games, Knoxville won two of the first three games played in Knoxville, then refused to go to Johnson City to play the remaining games, forfeiting the title to Johnson City. One of the reasons given was that several players had already left for their homes and others would soon follow, although apparently there were other reasons, since Knoxville later played a series of games at Chilhowee Park against Atlanta, that year's Southern League champion.

The 1914 season was abbreviated, the Reds were in last place on June 1. and attendance in Knoxville had been miserable. Moffett resigned and went to Bristol in an attempt to reorganize the team in that city. His attempt failed and the Appalachian League folded in mid-June.

Knoxville did not field a team in 1915, despite the attempts of Moffett and others to establish a Class C League consisting of teams from East Tennessee and Virginia. Moffett became the coach of the University of Tennessee baseball team in 1917, and continued in that position through the 1919 season. Knoxville did not field a professional baseball team that year, nor in the following two years in 1918 and 1919.

Knoxville had no professional team in 1920. Frank Moffett managed a team in Alcoa, playing in an amateur league consisting of his team and local Knoxville teams. Games were played at Chilhowee Park. Moffett's Alcoa team was soon winning virtually every game it played and the league was nearly disbanded when other club owners accused Moffett of signing his players to professional contracts in other states. The season did continue, but it was divided into two halves.

Knoxville, now called the Pioneers, fielded a team in the revived Class D Appalachian League in 1922. The manager was named Clunk, and local sports writers referred to the team as the Clunkites. A new baseball stadium had been built at Caswell Park, and home games were played at that field. Meanwhile, Frank Moffett was at work trying to secure a Southern Association franchise for Knoxville for 1922.

Moffett's attempts to secure a spot for Knoxville in the Southern Association for the 1922 season were unsuccessful, but he returned as Knoxville's manager that year. The Pioneers finished that season in fifth place in the league. He continued as manager in 1923, leading the Pioneers to the Appalachian League title, with sixty-six wins and thirty-eight losses. Moffett then managed Knoxville to the playoff championship in 1924, as the Pioneers defeated the Bristol State Liners.

Moffett did not manage the 1925 Knoxville team, now playing in the Class C South Atlantic League. The manager that year was Eddie McDonald, and Knoxville changed its name from the Pioneers to the Smokies, a name by which the team would be known for many years afterwards, a name that became long familiar with Knoxville baseball fans as a perennial losing franchise. McDonald's team finished dead last that year, winning forty-four games while losing eighty-five.

Moffett returned as manager of the Smokies team Knoxville team for the 1926 season, but Knoxville's record was just slightly better than it had been under manager McDonald, finishing in seventh place in the eight team league. At season's end, local newspapers reported that Moffett had announced that he would no longer be Knoxville's manager because of a new league rule that prohibited managers from also participating as players. If accurate, that comment bordered on the inexplicable, in view of the fact that Moffett was then fifty-three years old, and any contribution he could have made to the team as player at that age would have obviously been questionable, to say the least.

Moffett did not manage Knoxville during the 1927 or 1928 seasons. Knoxville continued to play in the South Atlantic League those years, finishing in the first division in 1927, and in fifth place in 1928. The 1927 manager was Bob Coleman and in 1928 George "Gabby" Street managed the Smokies.

Frank Moffett returned as manager of the Smokies for the 1929 season. That year, Knoxville won the second half after Asheville had won the first half, and Moffett guided the Smokies to the playoff championship against the North Carolina team.

Knoxville did not field a team in 1930, then the Smokies joined the Southern Association in mid-season in 1931. In that league, the Smokies exhibited annual incompetence, never finishing any higher than fourth place, and finishing in last place in the league seven times.

Moffett later coached the Pennington Gap team in the Lonesome Pike League for one season, and was also the coach of the Lincoln Memorial University baseball team.

Frank Moffett died in Knoxville on August 2,1935, at the age of sixty-two. Determining an accurate account of Moffett's earlier life proves to be somewhat difficult. According to a Knoxville newspaper account announcing his death in 1935, he was born in March, 1873, in Jefferson City, Tennessee. The articles in the Sentinel and Journal at that time indicate that he had played major league baseball for Boston, one newspaper mentioning that his stint in the majors had been "for several years." But it is difficult to reconcile that reported major league baseball career with original published articles in Knoxville newspapers in the late nineteenth century, where it is recorded that at age eigheeen, in 1891, Moffett was a member of Knoxville's first organized football team, and that he was the player-manager of the Knoxville Reds baseball team in 1893, when he would have been only twenty years old. Those seemingly contradictory reports concerning his early years notwithstanding, Moffett's contributions in promoting baseball in Knoxville were obviously significant, covering the years from 1893 through 1929, a period of thirty-six years. His dedication and persistence was despite that fact that he lost money during many of the early years when he managed Knoxville baseball teams, due to lack of support from local fans that often confronted his efforts in many of those seasons.

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