Photo Courtesy of Memphis Redbirds / Blues / Chicks Official Scorer:
J.J. Guinozzo (Guinozzo Centre Baseball Research)

The real Moonlight Graham would return to his hometown of Chisholm after his baseball career and serve as the town doctor for 50 years.  Moonlight Graham would bat .262 for the Egyptians in 1906. The other interesting sidenote of 1906 is that it featured Glenn Liebardt on the mound. The future Cleveland Indians' pitcher put up the best record ever at Russwood Park, posting a 35-11 record in a single season, and amazingly didn't have a 1st place team finish to show for it. Good pitching continued into 1907 as future Cincinnati Reds' Ralph Savidge would post a 20-11 record in as the Egyptians finished 3rd with a 73-62. After the 1908 season, the Memphis Egyptians would change their name to the Memphis Turtles for the 1909 season. The name change would become a terrible move for the club, because it seemed to put a jinx on the team that had been so consistent during its reign as the Egyptians. For 3 seasons, the Memphis Turtles finished well below .500, at or near the bottom of the Southern Association with their worst season coming in 1909 when they finished 51-88. The only thing that kept 1909 from being a completely forgettable year was the appearance of soon to be Brooklyn Dodger (then called the Brooklyn Superbas) Jake Daubert who put up a .314 with 14 doubles in 283 At Bats. Daubert would go on to the Major Leagues and become the best player yet produced by Russwood Park as he would bat .350 for Brooklyn in 1913 and take home the first MLB Most Valuable Player Award ever given to any Russwood Park alumni. Daubert would play for 15 MLB seasons and lead the league in hitting twice as well as in triples twice. Frank Allen would post a 22-14 in 1910 but with records like Clyde Goodwin's  5-12 and Al Klawitter's  8-15… it was all for naught. After 3 years of cellar dwelling, the Turtles were no more. They would adopt a new name in 1912 in honor of the local Indian tribe that called this part of Tennessee home… the Chickasaws. Though they would be known by many as the "Memphis Chicks" over the next 50 years, their official name was always in homage to the local Chickasaw Indian tribe.