The citizens of Knoxville were ready for baseball’s return in 1930, but that return would have to wait for one season. W. N. Smithson, an outspoken local councilman, loudly voiced his support for a new baseball stadium and eventually won his battle. The Smokies returned to the diamond in Knoxville at the newly constructed Smithson Stadium, named for the man who brought baseball back to Knoxville. The Smokies played for 13 successful seasons at Smithson Stadium until World War II.

The Smokies folded in 1944, along with many baseball teams, due to the massive amount of manpower needed to fight the Axis Powers. With victories over both the Germans and the Japanese, peace returned to Europe and the Pacific as did baseball to cities all across America. As the nation tried to return to normal, baseball flourished in Knoxville. Bill Meyer, a Knoxville native who was the backstop for the Appalachians in 1910, managed the club during the 1940s and won manager of the year honors in 1948. The Smokies’ records from 1946 to 1954 are missing, but during that stretch the team collected four first-place finishes in the Tri-State League while playing at Smithson Stadium. The Smokies took a detour through the Mountain State league in 1953 before returning for their swan-song season in the Tri-State League in 1954. In 1955, baseball again disappeared from the map in Knoxville after two straight first-place finishes in two different leagues.

The Knoxville Smokies called Smithson Stadium home until 1953 when it burned to the ground. The city decided to build a 6,700 seat stadium on the same grounds, naming the new facility Municipal Stadium. The $500,000 facility was renamed after famed Smokies’ manager Bill Meyer in 1957 as a result of his death that same year.

The Smokies continued to play in the South Atlantic League, or the “Sally” League until 1964, when the S.A.L. changed names and became the Southern League. The “Sally” League moved up to Double-A in 1963, which became the catalyst for it’s members to rename it the Southern League, a move that was due to the fact that the league wanted to distance itself from Class A ball.

Knoxville’s first few runs through the Southern League as a Reds affiliate were rough. During the four-year inititial run, the charter member never finished above fourth place and twice finished lower than sixth place. Before Cincinatti moved it’s Double-A affiliate to Asheville, N.C. after the 1967 season, the Knoxville club only managed to draw 21,390 fans-- the lowest total amount in Smokies’ history.

The 50s and 60s, Knoxville saw some of the top talent in the minors, both between the lines and in the dugout. One of the American Pastime’s greatest minds, Earl Weaver, managed the Smokies in the late 1950s. The former Smokies’ second baseman led the club to an improved 81-73 record in 1957 that followed a campaign that mustered only 53 wins during the previous year.

The Smokies even had a hand in the 1968 Detroit Tigers championship team. Bill Freehan, Mickey Stanley, Jim Northrup, along with pitchers Mickey Lolich and Fred Gladding all graced the diamond in Knoxville and all were vital members of the Tigers’ championship squad.

After a breif break that lasted through the 1971 season, Knoxville stormed back into the Southern League, winning championships in 1972 and 1974. The first three years that baseball was back in Knoxville saw three straight winning seasons. Over that stretch, the newly named Knoxville White Sox compiled an overall mark of 218-196 for a .694 winning percentage. With success on the field of nearly 70-percent, it’s tough not to win a pennant. The first title in 45 years came in 1974 as the “Knox Sox” took advantage of the offensive talents of outfielder Nyls Nyman. Nyman led the SL in the championship season in four different categories: batting average, hits, runs and triples, finishing with a .325 clip at the plate. Players weren’t the only shining stars in ‘74. Sox skipper Jim Napier earned the respect of those that followed SL baseball, capturing manager of the year honors for his squad’s impressive 72-63 campaign. The Sox finished third during the season but excelled in the playoffs. Knoxville eventually defeated Jacksonville 3-2 in the best-of-five series to win the SL pennant.

The success of the 70s continued with another pennant in 1978. This time a young manager would steal the headlines in the season’s first half. Anthony La Russa, Jr., skippered the squad for the first 70 games, crushing SL foes in the process en route to a 49-21 West Division title. Tony La Russa’s minor league managerial career was short lived. Just eight games into the second half of the 1978 season, La Russa left the team. He was back in the dugout in 1979, first at Triple-A Iowa and next in the American League with Chicago. His career in Major League Baseball has included stops in Chicago, Oakland and St. Louis. La Russa guided three straight Oakland teams to World Series appearances ranging from 1988-1990, earning one world series ring for winning the 1989 October Classic. The 1978 Knoxville Sox dominance didn’t end when La Russa left. Manager Joe Jones guided the team home to a second half title and the SL Championship, which also gave the Sox a bye in first round of the the playoffs and straight-shot to the championship series. With an 88-56 mark and a 2-1 series win over Savannah, Knoxville was at the top of the Double-A Southern League, drawing in more than 81,000 fans to Bill Meyer Stadium- the most since the 1962 campaign when the team drew more than 90,000 spectators.