Pioneers. The club had no affiliation with any major league club during the five seasons of operation in the Georgia State League. After the 1952 season, the Fitzgerald Pioneers relocated to Sandersville and became the Sandersville Wacos, which were affiliated with the Milwaukee Braves for the 1953 season. The team ended their last season in 1956, under different affiliation. Fitzgerald got a replacement team for the Pioneers in 1953 when the Moultrie Giants of the Georgia–Florida League moved to town. The Moultrie club was a charter member of the Georgia–Florida League when it began operations in 1946. After relocating to Fitzgerald and becoming an affiliate of the Cincinnati Redlegs, the new edition of the Fitzgerald Pioneers lasted one season (1954) saw the team name changed to the Fitzgerald Redlegs. After two years in Fitzgerald, the club returned to Moultrie. It ceased operating in 1958 under the name Brunswick Phillies. After the Fitzgerald Redlegs left, the city was without a team for the 1955 season. The next year the Cordele club relocated to Fitzgerald after ten seasons in Cordele. They changed affiliation back to what were now called the Kansas City A's, and the Fitzgerald A's played for the 1956 season. The next year the club changed affiliation again, to the Baltimore Orioles, and the club was known as the Fitzgerald Orioles for the 1957 season. The Fitzgerald club relocated to Dublin, Georgia following the 1957 season and remained a Baltimore Orioles farm team; they played as the Dublin Orioles for the Georgia–Florida League's last year of operation. Fitzgerald has not had a minor league team in the 63 years since. Notable people Morris B. Abram, president of Brandeis University and civil rights leader Brainard Cheney, author Neal Colzie, NFL defensive back General Raymond G. Davis, USMC, World War II hero, Korean War Medal of Honor recipient, Commander of the 3rd Marine Division in 1968–69 in Vietnam, and Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps 1971-72 Abner Jay, blues musician Frances Mayes, author Charlie Paulk, seventh pick of 1968 NBA draft Joe Reliford, youngest professional baseball player Forrest Towns, 1936 Summer Olympics track star Jemea Thomas, former NFL cornerback Mary Verner, politician, Mayor of Spokane, Washington References Further reading Around Fitzgerald, Georgia, in Vintage Picture Postcards, by Milton N. Hopkins, Jr., Arcadia Publishing Confederates in the Attic, by Tony Horwitz, Pantheon Books Fitzgerald: The Early Days, by Beth Davis, privately published External