Engel Stadium is a baseball field located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The stadium was built in 1930 and holds 12,000 people. It was the home of the Chattanooga Lookouts until 1999 when, at the end of the season, they moved to BellSouth Park. Engel Stadium was named for baseball scout and Chattanooga Lookouts owner, Joe Engel.

The stadium is located at 1130 E. 3rd Street, at the corner of O'Neil Avenue, adjacent to the historic Fort Wood neighborhood, Norfolk Southern's DeButts Yard and Erlanger Hospital.

Many notables have played on the field, including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Hank Aaron, Satchel Paige, Willie Mays, Harmon Killebrew, Ferguson Jenkins, Kiki Cuyler, Kid Elberfeld and Burleigh Grimes.

During its minor league days, the ballfield had probably the deepest in-play center field areas among active ballparks, 471 feet from home plate. Harmon Killebrew was the only known player to hit a home run over the 471-foot marker.

Engel Stadium (with a fence reducing its dimensions) is now used for high school baseball games and, up until a few years ago, for the TSSAA baseball playoffs, which were moved to Murfreesboro, Tenn., to be more centrally located for all Tennessee high schools.



View from 3rd street looking at the 3rd base side gate. This gate was for African Americans to use in place of the main gate.



Another view of the African American's gate.



An interior view of the African American's gate. Obviously not used in years.

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I have mixed feelings about the African American's Gate...2 years ago they filled it in, in a way i'm glad, but in another way i felt like it should have been preserved.
I remember a few times driving down 3rd Street right at the moment somebody hit a homerun, talk about crazy and dangerous, it's a wonder no one ever got hit although i'm not sure, but the poor gas station across the street always had a broke window....ROFLMBO
It’s Farewell for 69-Year-Old Minor League Engel Stadium
By Rachel Zoll
September 05, 1999
Los Angeles Times

Frank Moore, World War II veteran and retired postal worker, can be found there at almost every Chattanooga Lookouts game, sitting practically on top of first base.

It’s near the same spot where he and his father watched the Lookouts more than 30 years ago. And it’s across the field from the bleachers where he sat as a boy.

Next year, Moore won’t be there. And neither will the team.

When the season ends this month, the Cincinnati Reds’ Class AA affiliate in the Southern League will leave crumbling, 69-year-old Engel Stadium for a new $10 million downtown ballpark.

The 75-year-old Moore and other fans will miss the park that boasts the deepest center field in America, 471 feet, and a quirky hill that slopes up toward the outfield wall.

According to local lore, the only player to hit a homer over the 30-foot-high wall in center was Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew when he played for Chattanooga in the 1950s.

The new stadium will lack the history, of course, but at least the Lookouts are staying in Chattanooga.

“I don’t think it will have the old-ballpark atmosphere,” Moore said. “But I’ll just be happy to keep on watching.”

The 7,500-seat Engel Stadium, named for former team president Joe Engel, is known as much for its faults as its charms.

Outfield lights are frozen in place by rust. The electrical wiring is so old and scrambled that turning on an ice cream machine once caused toilets to flush.

Flooding is routine because the stadium sits on one of the lowest spots in Chattanooga. In 1984 and 1988, the Lookouts lost entire four-game series when downpours turned the infield into an island.

A study found the stadium needed a $5 million upgrade to meet minor league requirements for a clubhouse, indoor batting cage, and better lighting and dugouts. It looked like the team that was a charter member of the Southern League in 1885 might have to move.

There was much relief when team co-owner Frank Burke announced plans last fall to use private money to build a 6,000-seat ballpark in the heart of Chattanooga. The city helped by waiving property taxes.

“There are those in our industry who think we’re nuts. They say you could get the city to build it for you,” Burke said. “But (the team) has been here so long I kind of felt it belonged here. We just don’t like to see them leave communities. It’s probably an old-fashioned way to look at it.”

It has not been the same elsewhere.

Up Interstate 75 in Knoxville, the Class AA Smokies are moving because Sevierville and Sevier County agreed to help build a $19 million stadium for next season.

Nashville could lose its Class AAA Sounds because the city has balked at the team’s request for a new stadium.

In Chattanooga, Engel was responsible for much of the community’s attachment to the Lookouts and their stadium.

A legendary promoter nicknamed the “Barnum of Baseball,” he generated publicity by giving away a house, putting singing canaries in the grandstand and trading a shortstop for a turkey, then inviting sportswriters to watch him eat it.

He signed female pitcher Jackie Mitchell to throw against the New York Yankees and she struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in a 1931 exhibition. It’s still argued whether it was a stunt.

As a boy, Moore was a member of Engel’s “Knothole Gang,” children given free season passes if they pledged to stay in school and act in a “sportsmanlike and gentlemanly fashion.”

The club was named for youngsters who used to peer through the punched-out knotholes in the boards of outfield fences. Moore still carries the card in his wallet.

Despite Engel’s death in 1969, the quirky promotions continue at the stadium, where fans can get a haircut in the stands and camels sometimes are put in a pen below the center-field wall.

Moore’s fondest memories are of the players and managers, not the entertainment.

He was there in 1939 when the Lookouts won the league championship on the last game of the season. Kiki Cuyler, a Hall of Famer who played outfield for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs and others, managed the Lookouts at the time.

Moore recalls seeing Jackie Robinson play in a 1941 exhibition at Engel.

“I remember Jackie sitting in the third base dugout,” he said. “He sat outside and the white players sat inside.”

Besides Killebrew, other former Lookouts in the Hall of Fame include pitchers Ferguson Jenkins and Burleigh Grimes, and second baseman Rogers Hornsby.

Engel Stadium has seen modern-day heroes, as well. In 1994, 14,137 people turned out to see Michael Jordan play with the Birmingham Barons. Extra bleachers were brought in to handle the overflow.

Now the city and Hamilton County, which own the stadium, are soliciting proposals on future uses for the ballpark. They hope to keep it open as a sports facility.

Moore, who arrived at a recent Lookouts game smartly dressed in Lookouts’ red and white, said he’ll be close to the action at the new ballpark when it opens March 30.

“I want to be near the umpire,” he said, “to tell him when he’s wrong.”
What a story Sole Man. There so much Black history that is unknown out there.
Thats so very true Brother OSC
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this Sole...that overhead shot is phenomenal too!!! Excellent job!!!

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  9. play Marvin Gaye — I Met A Little Girl
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The history of the Butlers/Raw Soul is dense, but for all of us music nerds, that's normal. It is not totally clear what year the Butlers actually formed but they released their first single in 1963 on Liberty Records. That single was "She Tried To Kiss Me" and another single followed on Guyden entitled "Lovable Girl." After the Guyden single the Butlers took a break not recording another record until the single "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" was released on the Phila label in 1966. The group also backed Charles Earland and Jean Wells on one Phila single ("I Know She Loves Me"). 


As you might be noticing, the Butlers were doing a fair amount of recording but not achieving much success. The group's recordings sold regionally but never had the promotion to make an impact on the national scene. After the single with Phila, the Butlers moved to the Fairmount label (part of the Cameo-Parkway family) and released a handful of singles, some being reissued singles of the past. The Butlers were with Fairmount for 1966-67 and then moved to Sassy Records. Sassy released the group's greatest single (in my opinion) "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" b/w "If That's What You Wanted." A copy of that 45 sold for just under $500 last summer on eBay. Even though that isn't that much in the world of record collecting--it's still a hefty sum. The Butlers released another single on Sassy ("She's Gone" b/w "Love Is Good") that appears to be even 
harder to come by then the "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" single.

 

The true history become a bit blurred here as the AMG biography states that the Butlers last record was released on C.R.S. in 1974 (". However, between 1971 and that single, Frankie Beverly formed a group called Raw Soul and released a number of singles. Some of the songs recorded by Beverly during this period are "While I'm Alone," "Open Up Your Heart," (both on the Gregor label) and "Color Blind." "Color Blind" was released by the Eldorado label and rerecorded by Maze. Beverly's big break came when Marvin Gaye asked Raw Soul to back him on a tour. Gaye helped Beverly/Raw Soul get a contract at Capitol. Beverly decided to take the group in a different direction, a name change occurred, and Maze was created. 

The above isn't the most complete history of Beverly but hopefully someone will know a way to get in touch with the man or his management because a comprehensive pre-Maze history needs to be done on Frankie Beverly (his real name is Howard, by the way). Below you'll find every Frankie Beverly (pre-Maze) song available to me right now ("Color Blind" will be up soon). 

If you have a song that is not included below, shoot it over to funkinsoulman (at) yahoo.com and it will go up in the next Frankie Beverly post (later this week--highlighting Maze). Also, if you have any more information please share your knowledge. The Butlers material has been comp-ed sporadically (usually imports) but the entire Maze catalog has been reissued and is available. 

Enjoy.  "She Kissed Me" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967) 
 
 "I Want To Feel I'm Wanted" (not sure which label or year) "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" (Phila, 1966) "Because Of My Heart" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967)
   
 "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" (Sassy, 1967)
   
 "If That's What You Wanted" (Sassy, 1967)
 



Frankie Beverly is one of those cats that has lasting power. He started in the music business doing a tour with doo wop group the Silhouettes and then formed his own group called the Blenders. The Blenders never recorded a single, Beverly wouldn't appear on wax until forming the Butlers a few years later. Along with Beverly, the Butlers included Jack "Sonny" Nicholson, Joe Collins, John Fitch, and Talmadge Conway.

Beverly would later enjoy great success fronting Maze and Conway would become a
well-known penning Double Exposure's
"Ten Percent" and the Intruders' "Memories Are Here To Stay." 
 While Maze is a phenomenal group, Beverly's work before that group will always stand out as his best (imo).

The Butlers produced tunes that most Northern Soul fans would kill for and Raw Soul gave the funksters something to pursue. If, by chance, you know of a way to get in touch with Frankie Beverly or his management, please drop me an e-mail. It would be absolutely great to do an interview with him about his pre-Maze work. He's still playing out, most recently doing a New Year's Eve show in Atlanta.
:: Funkinsoulman ::

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