Q: You mentioned several major league players from Georgia in last week’s Actual Factual Georgia, but there were many you didn’t mention. Can you include others in a future article?
A: Let's take another trip around the diamond.
Last week’s column – in which I wrote about several of the best MLB stars from Georgia over the past 100 years or so – prompted emails from readers who wanted me to include other players.
This isn’t a complete list – that would be incredibly lengthy — but here are more Georgians who have played or are currently in the majors.
Current Braves from Georgia include outfielder Jeff Francoeur (Lilburn), infielder Gordon Beckham (Atlanta), catcher Tyler Flowers, who played at Blessed Trinity in Roswell, and outfielder Nick Markakis, who grew up in Woodstock.
Former Braves infielder Jeff Treadway is from Griffin, current Oakland A’s outfielder Josh Reddick was born in Savannah, but played at South Effingham High School and former outfielder Mike Cameron is from LaGrange.
Readers mentioned several former players, including Whit Wyatt, a right-handed pitcher from Walker County who won 106 games for five MLB teams.
That includes 22-win and 19-win seasons for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1941 and ’42.
Former MLB player and current Chicago White Sox announcer Ken “Hawk” Harrelson was born in South Carolina, but grew up in Savannah and played at Benedictine Military School.
Josh Gibson (Buena Vista), Johnny Mize (Demorest), Jackie Robinson (Cairo), Bill Terry (Atlanta) and Frank Thomas (Columbus) are the only five Hall of Famers who were born in Georgia, but at least one more Cooperstown inductee had deep ties to the state.
Hall of Famer Luke Appling was from North Carolina, but attended Fulton High School and Oglethorpe University, and later lived in Atlanta.
He coached for the Braves for many years and died in Cumming in 1991.
Sandra Osborne emailed to tell me about her husband Larry “Bo” Osborne, who died in 2011.
He played at West Fulton High and played for the Detroit Tigers and Washington Senators from 1957-63.
Research on Osborne led to his dad Earnest “Tiny” Osborne, who was born in Porterdale and pitched for two teams from 1922-25.
Other Atlanta-area products include Ron Blomberg (Druid Hills High School), who was the first designated hitter in 1973, Mike Ivie (Walker) and Kris Benson and Marlon Byrd, who both played at Sprayberry.
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