Many people from Chattooga County were shocked and saddened to learn of the death last month (April 2013) of former Atlanta Braves pitcher and Trion native Rick Camp just shy of his 60th birthday.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Camp, a native of Trion in northwest Georgia, was signed by the Braves out of West Georgia College in 1974, and pitched a little more than eight years in the major leagues. Among his more memorable games was the marathon July 4, 1985 game against the Mets in which he hit a game-tying home run in the 18th inning of the rain-delayed game, which didn’t end until around 4 o’clock the next morning."
Rick Camp speaks to a local group, circa 1977.
Autographs for young fans at Riverbend Mall in Rome, circa 1977.
More autographs for fans at the Trion Recreation Department, circa 1977.
Posing with the Bethune kids from Trion at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, circa 1977.
Staff and guests of Farmers & Merchants Bank visited the stadium to cheer for Rick. From left to right are Emory Gilmer, Bill Gilbert, Henry Watson, unidentified, Harris Caldwell, (partially hidden) Bill King, unidentified, and Mike Turner.
More autographs for a hometown crowd which included Rick's mother, Robbie Greenwood Camp (on right), and Charles and Dot Logan, parents of Dan Logan, another great ballplayer from Trion.
Fear not,
You have made a good hit.
And though the World pitched,
And the Devil played behind,
And the Seven Deadly Sins were alive,
In the field;
Yet you have reached the Home-Plate of Heaven,
And, amid cries of Judgment,
From the World, and How's That?
From the Devil,
Are proclaimed by the Great Umpire
Of the Universe, NOT OUT.
-- Epitaph on a Base-Ballist, author unknown, published 1872.
Photographs by T. Emmett Nunn. Courtesy of Chattooga Library.
Thanks to Brad Hayes for help with some of the captions.