Joe Angel played for the Class D Pittsburg Diamonds baseball team in Pittsburg, California back in 1950-51. He was a very good pitcher for them. Went to all the games and he was a favorite of the fans. I was just "googling" and there he is on your website. Sorry to read that he passed away last year.

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"Spud Chandler, X-Yankee pitcher was their manager. Lou Matlin was the business manager. They were a farm team of the Cleveland Indians in the old Florida State League which was class D. Best baseball player that came out of the Seabirds was Roy Nixon who made it to the big leagues as did his twin Ray Nixon. This was all around 1953-54-55. I remember one game where the Seabirds played the old Jacksonville Braves in town and won in an exhibition game."

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"They played at the then-new baseball stadium located a block or two south of Beach Blvd. on what is now the road to the Jax Beach Golf Course and where several sports fields and Jax Beach municipal facilities are now located. I don't think the original stadium is still there. To further pinpoint its location, it was west of the old drive-in theater and the miniature golf course and driving range that were there when we were kids. The road that now goes to the Golf Course was, at the time of the Seabirds, a dirt road that went to the new softball field where my dad, Wilson Wingate, and others played on the various softball teams sponsored by Beach businesses.

As an avid baseball fan, I was thrilled when the Seabirds came to town, and I snuck into as many games as I could. My recollection is that they weren't a very good team, attendance wasn't all that great, and that they left town after four or five years. One of the team's claims to fame was that the professional careers of twin brothers Russ and Roy Nixon began with the Seabirds. The Nixons went on to become solid major league stars with the Red Sox and other teams in the '50s and '60s.

It's funny what you remember as a kid, but one of my recollections of the games was the segregated black bleacher section down the right field line apart from the covered grand-stand. There weren't many black players (I don't recall the Seabirds havng any), but that section always responded with great enthusiasm when a black player got a hit or made a good play."

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Yep, I loved those Seabirds, and was lucky enough to experience a very similar team called the Aberdeen (SD) Pheasants. - which also lasted 3 years.

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