With spring training baseball in full swing, the UTC Library’s Special Collections has published a new digital collection documenting the early history of the Chattanooga Lookouts minor league baseball team.
The collection, titled “Sandy Sandlin Chattanooga Lookouts Photographs,” contains photographs, memorabilia, papers, newspaper clippings and other materials documenting the Lookouts from 1912 to 1987—with the bulk dating from the 1930s to the 1960s.
The digitized black-and-white photographs are available through UTC Digital Collections, offering free access to researchers, baseball enthusiasts and the general public.
Materials within the collection were created or gathered by Davis “Sandy” Sandlin, who served as the athletic trainer for the University of Chattanooga/UTC for nearly 40 years before retiring in 1976. During the summer months from 1938 to 1965, he worked with the Lookouts as the team’s lead athletic trainer and traveling secretary.
According to UTC Manuscripts Archivist Molly Copeland, the photographs in the collection highlight both the professional and personal connections that Sandlin—who passed away in 1979—developed during his time with the Lookouts.
“What I think is really interesting about the collection is that it includes a lot of minor league players who maybe only played for a couple of years or were only with the Lookouts for a season or two,” Copeland said. “It’s an intimate look at those players who otherwise aren’t historical figures.
“At the same time, the collection features notable names like Bobo Newsom and Rogers Hornsby, capturing a fascinating moment in minor league baseball.”
Newsom, known for his eccentric personality, pitched professionally from 1929-1953—including 20 seasons in the majors. He spent the 1950-1951 seasons in Chattanooga trying to work his way back to the big leagues.
Hornsby—a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame—served in a player/manager role during his time with the Lookouts in 1938. Another Baseball Hall of Famer, Kiki Cuyler, managed the team in 1939.
Sandlin’s dual role with the Lookouts and the University adds another layer of historical connection. Among the photographs is a notable image featuring Scrappy Moore—the legendary Mocs football coach who also spent one season (1944) as the Lookouts’ manager.
“There’s a wonderful overlap between the University and the Lookouts captured in this collection,” Copeland said. “These connections deepen our understanding of how sports have shaped both Chattanooga and the University’s identity.”
Acquired by UTC in 2017 following the closure of the Chattanooga History Center, the photographs were initially donated to the History Center in 1987 by Eleanor Sandlin. The donated collection also includes two newspaper clippings from 1984 and 1987, which she likely contributed—along with baseballs signed by players and Lookouts management that weren’t digitized.
Since then, the collection has undergone significant digitization and cataloging efforts.
Copeland said that what started in 2023 as an internship project for Special Collections student worker John Wallace—who graduated from UTC in May 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in history—evolved into a year-long effort. The process also included current UTC senior Boden Wilson in digitizing, researching and making the materials accessible online.
“Most of it involved figuring out what the photographs were, who was in it—and what events they were depicting,” said Wilson, who is pursuing bachelor’s degrees in both history and Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures—and a minor in historical preservation. “A lot of it was researching newspaper archives and going off handwritten notes on the back of the photographs.
“This was a really interesting time period in baseball. This was back when baseball really was the pastime of America—when local minor-league baseball teams were really big in their communities. You can see the rise and fall of it through this collection of that time period in American history.”
A 2021 graduate of Chattanooga School for the Arts & Sciences, Boden said he spent a good portion of summer 2024 coming to campus to work on the 110-image collection.
“It’s really cool seeing that some of the stuff I did is actually on the published database that people can go look at,” he said.
Copeland said the photographs offer more than just a record of the Lookouts’ players and Engel Stadium, as “they provide insight into one of Chattanooga’s most iconic institutions and its role in the community.”
“For anyone interested in Chattanooga’s baseball history, there’s a lot here to enjoy,” she said. “This collection represents a beloved sports team through the eyes of its athletic trainer, with photographs of minor league players, Cuban athletes in (the league) during the 1940s and pivotal moments like the Lookouts’ 1952 Southern League championship.”
The 1952 team photo, she said, is an excellent representation of the collection “because it not only celebrates the team’s success but also captures the vibrant atmosphere of the stadium—with signs for local businesses like Rock City and news outlets like the Chattanooga News Free Press.”
While the team’s history is cherished, Copeland said there’s been relatively little written from a historical standpoint.
“This collection is the product of careful research by students who had to dig into a variety of sources to identify players and reconstruct key aspects of the team’s history,” she said. “It’s not just photographs—it’s a resource for learning about a vital part of Chattanooga’s past.”