The Chattanooga Lookouts are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

. They are located in

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

, and are named for nearby

Lookout Mountain Lookout Mountain is a mountain ridge located at the northwest corner of the U.S. state of Georgia, the northeast corner of Alabama, and along the southeastern Tennessee state line in Chattanooga. Lookout Mountain was the scene of the 18th-cen ...

. The team plays its home games at AT&T Field which opened in 2000 and seats 6,340 fans. They previously played at

Engel Stadium Engel Stadium is a stadium 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 they moved to their current stadium, AT&T Field. The former Tennessee Temple ...

from 1930 through 1999, with a one-year break in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

Cramton Bowl Cramton Bowl is a 25,000-seat stadium located in Montgomery, Alabama. Cramton Bowl opened in 1922 as a baseball stadium and has been home to Major League Baseball spring training and to minor league baseball. Today, however, its primary use is f ...

in 1943.

History

In 1906, Oliver Burnside "O.B." Andrews, owner of the Andrews Paper Box Company, took ownership of a franchise in the South Atlantic League relocating the Single-A team to Chattanooga. The team adopted the name Lookouts in 1909 after a fan contest. The following year Andrews purchased the Double A Southern Association franchise from Little Rock and relocated them to Chattanooga. The team began playing on Andrews Field in the 1100 block of East 3rd Street, which would remain the site of their home stadium for close to a hundred years. Joe Engel bought the Chattanooga Lookouts in 1926 and opened Engel Stadium in 1930 on the site of Andrews Field. The first game in the new stadium was played April 15, 1930 with the Lookouts beating the Atlanta Crackers 6-5 in front of approx. 16,000 fans. In 1931, the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

played an exhibition game against the Lookouts. During the game, a 17-year-old girl named

Jackie Mitchell Virne Beatrice "Jackie" Mitchell Gilbert (August 29, 1913 – January 7, 1987) was one of the first female pitchers in professional baseball history. She was 17 years old when she pitched for the Chattanooga Lookouts Class AA minor league b ...

pitched for the Lookouts and struck out Major League greats

Lou Gehrig Henry Louis Gehrig (born Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig ; June 19, 1903June 2, 1941) was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was renowned f ...

and

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...

. Many reports of this story include a footnote claiming that a few days after the game, baseball commissioner

Kenesaw Mountain Landis Kenesaw Mountain Landis (; November 20, 1866 – November 25, 1944) was an American jurist who served as a United States federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death. He is remembered for his ...

voided Mitchell's contract, claiming that baseball was "too strenuous" for women. This has been rebutted here, and directly contradicts a profile of Mitchell published a few months later. MLB didn't introduce a ban on contracts for female players until June 21, 1952 (which was repealed in 1992). After winning the 1932 Southern Association pennant, the Lookouts won the

Dixie Series The Dixie Series was an interleague postseason series between the playoff champions of Minor League Baseball's Southern Association (SA) and Texas League (TL). The best-of-seven series was held at the conclusion of each season from 1920 to 1 ...

, a postseason interleague championship between the champions of the Southern Association and the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

, defeating the

Beaumont Exporters The Beaumont Exporters was the predominant name of a minor league baseball team located in Beaumont, Texas that played between 1920 and 1957 in the Texas League and the Big State League. Beaumont rejoined the Class AA Texas League (1983-1986) and ...

, 4–1, in the best-of-seven series. During owner Joe Engel's tenure, the Lookouts won four championships – three with the

Southern Association The Southern Association was a higher-level minor league in American organized baseball from 1901 through 1961. For most of its existence, the Southern Association was two steps below the Major Leagues; it was graded Class A (1902–1935), Cl ...

and a fourth with the

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

. Engel led a charge to own the Lookouts privately, with the help of several hundred fans as shareholders from 1938 to 1942. In 1939, as a privately owned franchise under coach

Kiki Cuyler Hazen Shirley Cuyler (; August 30, 1898 – February 11, 1950), nicknamed Kiki, was an American professional baseball right fielder. He played in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and Brooklyn Dodg ...

, the Lookouts claimed a championship. In 1943, the Lookouts played at

as the ''Montgomery Rebels'' after the Washington Senators moved the Lookouts from Chattanooga to Montgomery, some away, citing a decline in attendance. (The original Montgomery Rebels team had folded due to World War II in 1943 and would return to Montgomery in 1946 in the now-defunct

Southeastern League The Southeastern League was the name of four separate baseball leagues in minor league baseball which operated in the Southeastern and South Central United States in numerous seasons between 1897 and 2003. Two of these leagues were associated wit ...

.) The Lookouts managed to move back to Chattanooga in December of that year after Engel organized a letter-writing campaign aimed at

Clark Griffith Clark Calvin Griffith (November 20, 1869 – October 27, 1955), nicknamed "The Old Fox", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher, manager and team owner. He began his MLB playing career with the St. Louis Browns (1891), Boston Reds ...

, the owner of the Senators at the time. The team, which plays in the Southern League, has been the Double-A affiliate of a major league ballclub since 1932. From 1988 through 2008, the Lookouts were the Double-A affiliate of the

. For the 2009 through 2014 seasons, the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

served as the parent club. In affiliating with the Twins in 2015, the Lookouts rekindled a relationship with the franchise that, as the 1901–1960 edition of the Washington Senators, spent the longest period as its parent team. It was announced on September 25, 2018, that the Lookouts would resume their affiliation with the Reds. In conjunction with

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Lookouts were organized into the

Double-A South AA, Aa, Double A, or Double-A may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''America's Army'', a 2002 computer game published by the U.S. Army * '' Ancient Anguish'', a computer game in existence since 1992 * Aa!, a J-Pop musical group * Do ...

in which they continued as an affiliate of the Reds. In 2022, the Double-A South became known as the Southern League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization.

Television and radio

All Chattanooga Lookouts games are televised on MiLB.TV. Since 2016, all games are broadcast on 96.1 The Legend. Larry Ward is the lead broadcaster. Lookouts games were broadcast on WDOD (1310 AM) until the 2011 season. From 2011 to 2015, games were broadcast on

WALV-FM WALV-FM (95.3 FM, "ESPN Chattanooga") is a sports formatted radio station licensed to Ooltewah, Tennessee, United States, and serves the Chattanooga area. The station is currently owned by J. L. Brewer Broadcasting of Cleveland, LLC. and airs p ...

(105.1 FM, " ESPN Chattanooga"). Currently, all Lookouts games are broadcast on

WLND WLND (98.1 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Signal Mountain, Tennessee, and serving the Chattanooga metropolitan area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc., and broadcasts an Adult Hits radio format, using the moniker "98.1 The Lak ...

98.1 The Lake starting with the 2019 season. Chattanooga Lookouts Move to WLND (98.1 The Lake)
/ref>

Roster

Retired numbers

*26 –

Dernell Stenson Dernell Renauld Stenson (June 17, 1978 – November 5, 2003) was an American professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds. He batted and threw left-handed. Baseball career The youngest of eig ...

, OF, 2003

References

External links