Bowling Green Barons
The Bowling Green Barons played in the Class D Kitty League from 1939 until the league was disbanded about half way through the 1942 season. The team had started out in Lexington, Tennessee where they played as the “Bees”, but were purchased by local businessman Vick Smith and moved to Bowling Green where they became the Barons in time for the 1939 season.
The Barons wore an interlocked BG logo on their left chest for home games and a plain block “B” on their navy hats. There is some indication that there may have been some red trim to go with the navy on the uniforms.
Though the Barons were short-lived, they did manage to win the Kitty League playoffs in 1939 after coming in 2nd in the league. The next year they reversed things by winning the regular season Kitty League title but falling to the Jackson Generals in the playoff finals. They were a Brooklyn Dodgers farm team for most of their time in Bowling Green.
The Kitty League suspended operation in June 1942 due to World War II. Though the league returned in 1946, the Bowling Green Barons were not part of it.
While the Kitty League did not return to Bowling Green, after a 67 year wait baseball did come back to Bowling Green in 2009 in the form of the Bowling Green Hot Rods, a Class A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. Currently Bowling Green, KY is the only former Kitty League town that has affiliated minor league baseball. *
*The Jackson Generals existed through the 2019 season. Today Jackson, TN host a collegiate summer league team known as the Jackson Rockabillys.
