So he took me back to the ballpark and gave me a uniform. I also told him he'd have to ask my mom if it was OK because this was a team that traveled. "I went back the next day after school, and he told me what a batboy had to do. And when I found out it was Ace Adams, I told him I wanted to be the batboy for his team. I finally got the nerve to go find out who the manager was.
"We had the field right down the street and I watched games for years and years, and I got to know the players by watching from the tracks and hanging on the fence. "I got the job because I wanted to help my mom," Reliford, 67, said.
Not only did Reliford come away with a job as a batboy, he went on to break the color barrier in the Georgia State League and become the youngest person ever to play in a professional baseball game. What Reliford didn't know, however, is that when he decided to approach Ace Adams, the Pioneers owner, that spring day in 1950, he would be set on a path that would secure him a place in the Hall of Fame. What better way to earn some money, he thought, than through baseball? Reliford had spent countless hours watching the Fitzgerald Pioneers of the Class D Georgia State League from the nearby railroad tracks. He headed to the place he knew best - the hometown ballpark in Fitzgerald, Georgia. So, he did what any 10-year-old would do. His father died when he was 4 years old and as Reliford got older, the desire to help his mother and take care of the family grew stronger. Reliford grew up in the Deep South in the late 1940s and early 1950s, one of 10 children raised by a single mother. What he got instead was a place in baseball history. Each week, will attempt to fill that gap and explore these historical oddities in our feature, "Cracked Bats." Know of any stories to be considered for this feature in the future? Send an email and let us know. While much has been written about the best teams and top players who have graced the Minors, there remain many stories either untold or largely forgotten. Minor League Baseball is known for its rich history dating back more than 100 years.