Memphis Turtles
The Memphis Turtles, based in Memphis, Tennessee, played three seasons in the Southern Association from 1909 through 1911, going 62-76 in 1910 under manager Charlie Babb and 62-71 in 1911. The 1909 club lost 88 games, the most in franchise history.
The Turtles years sat between two better ones. The same franchise had entered the league in 1901 as the Memphis Egyptians, a nod to the city's namesake on the Nile, and won pennants in 1903 and 1904. After 1911 the club became the Chickasaws, shortened almost immediately to the Chicks, and kept that name until 1960. Across all three identities it played at Russwood Park, which stood from 1901 until it burned down in 1960.
Where the Turtles name came from is not documented. It appears in the league records for those three seasons and then vanishes, replaced without explanation, one of a handful of short-lived nicknames the Memphis club cycled through before settling.
The Southern Association ran from 1901 through 1961 and was the most stable minor league in the South. In the 1800s and first half of the 1900s, teams existed in thousands of small towns across the United States, as Americans looked for recreational activities and entertainment in the era before TV.
