Chattanooga Lookouts Tickets

Chattanooga Lookouts
The Chattanooga Lookouts are a minor league baseball team. They are established in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. The reason for their name; Chattanooga Lookouts is because of the proximity to Lookout Mountain.

The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds major-league club. 2008 will mark the teams' 123rd season of play in Chattanooga.

Gaming Arena
Right from their start in 1930, the Looks played at historic Engel Stadium. The practice continued till 1999 when they shifted to AT&T Field, located in Chattanooga. The stadium has seating capacity of 6,160 fans and it was opened in 2000.

Owners & Coaches
The tenure of owner Joe Engel's is considered to be most successful among all as during those days, the Lookouts won four championships - three with the Southern Association and a fourth with the South Atlantic League. For a time, Engel also led the charge to own the Lookouts privately from 1938 to 1942, with the help of several hundred fans as shareholders.

Notable former Players
Notable former Lookouts players that made a mark in Lookouts performances and they had made it to the Major Leagues include Baseball Hall of Famers Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Burleigh Grimes, Harmon Killebrew, and Ferguson Jenkins. Also, Ben Broussard (New York Yankees), Adam Dunn (Cincinnati Reds), Austin Kearns (Washington Nationals), and Jason LaRue (St. Louis Cardinals) currently play in the MLB. Other notable former players include Alvin Davis, Mark Langston, Deion Sanders, and Pete Rose Jr. (son of Pete Rose).

Going through years
Chattanooga Lookouts is one such team that has seen many ups and down throughout their history. Few notable events are appended below.

In 1931, the New York Yankees played an exhibition game against the Lookouts. During the game, a 17 year old girl named Jackie Mitchell pitched for the Lookouts and struck out Major League greats Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. A few days after the game, baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis annulled Mitchell's contract, claiming that baseball was too strenuous for women.

Dernell Stenson starred in baseball at LaGrange High School in LaGrange, Georgia. There, Stenson attracted the attention of scouts for the Boston Red Sox, and he was selected in the third round with the ninety-first overall pick of the 1996 amateur draft. Stenson advanced quickly through the minor leagues before reaching a plateau at Triple-A. After the season, Stenson was chosen to represent his organization in the Arizona Fall League (AFL).

Stenson was murdered while playing with the Scottsdale Scorpions of the AFL, for reasons that are still unclear. The incident initially appeared to be a carjacking; Stenson was bound, shot in the head and chest, and then run over with his own SUV. Information which surfaced following the murder indicated that it may have been the culmination of a more elaborate scheme.

Stenson had received threatening text messages from former girlfriend, Jennifer Gaddis, including one that said U better pray I never see you U again. I swear Dernell U R worth a Murder charge 4 & that is all U R worth. She had engaged in odd behavior before, having faked both a pregnancy and a suicide in order to attract Stenson's attention. Police searched Gaddis's home and place of work and questioned her extensively, but concluded that she was not involved.

Four men were ultimately arrested for the crime, with robbery stated as motive. In December 2007, Griffith was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to murder, armed robbery and kidnapping. Riddle pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in 2006 as a part of a plea bargain; on January 25, 2008, he was sentenced to life in prison but will be eligible for parole after 25 years.

The AFL suspended play for two days after Stenson's murder. The league also honoured Stenson by inaugurating the Dernell Stenson Sportsmanship Award, given to a player who displays the values of perseverance and humility. His number was retired by the Reds' Double-A team, the Chattanooga Lookouts, afterwards.