The Chattanooga Lookouts are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and are named for Lookout Mountain. The team plays their home games at Erlanger Park, which opened in 2026.
The franchise traces it lineage back to 1885 with the Chattanooga Lookouts who were charter members on the original Southern League until folding in 1886. Other teams followed in various leagues, including the Chatts, Warriors, and Blues, but Lookouts has been the predominate nickname for teams from the city. In 1901, a new Lookouts club was formed as a charter member of the Southern Association that, despite a few years of inactivity, playing in other circuits, and relocating during the 1943 season, continued in the league through 1961. After a year of dormancy, the Lookouts returned to play in the original South Atlantic League in 1963 and in the modern Southern League from 1964 to 1965. After a 10-year stretch with no professional baseball in the city, the current iteration of the Lookouts joined the Southern League in 1976.
The Lookouts' played their home games at the Chattanooga's Base Ball grounds between 1885 to 1902. They played a season at Chamberlain Field in 1909, but moved to Andrews Field from 1910 to 1929. Chattanooga played at Engel Stadium for 70 seasons from 1930 to 1999 until moving into AT&T Field from 2000 to 2025. They have played at Erlanger Park since 2026.
Chattanooga has won the Southern League championship three times: first in 1988 as the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds and again in 2015 and 2017 as affiliates of the Minnesota Twins. In the Southern Association, the Lookouts won four league pennants (1932, 1939, 1952, and 1961) and the Dixie Series in 1932. They also won the South Atlantic League playoff championship in 1909.
Contents
History
Early teams (1885–1925)
The Chattanooga Lookouts trace their lineage back to 1885 with the formation of the first iteration of the Lookouts, who were charter members of the original Southern League from 1885 to 1886 and played their home games at the local Base Ball Grounds. On July 10, 1886, Chattanooga, last in the standings, voluntarily dropped out of the league to provide the circuit with an even number of teams days after the Augusta Browns folded.
Other Minor League Baseball teams represented Chattanooga, Tennessee, after this initial entry into professional baseball, including several more clubs in the Southern League over the next decade. After fielding an unnamed team in 1889, the Chattanooga Chatts represented the city in 1892 and played their home games at Stanton Field. The Southern League entries in 1893 and 1895 were called the Chattanooga Warriors. They transferred to Mobile, Alabama, as the Mobile Bluebirds, on July 19, 1895. The Chattanooga Blues competed in the Southeastern League in 1897. A second iteration of the Lookouts played from 1901 to 1902 as members of the new Southern Association.
After the 1908 season, Oliver Burnside "O.B." Andrews, owner of the Andrews Paper Box Company, Garnett Carter, and a third unidentified party took ownership of a franchise in the original South Atlantic League and moved the team to Chattanooga, adopting the name Lookouts after a fan contest. They played their home games at Chamberlain Field. The 1909 Lookouts won the first half of the league's split-season, then defeated the Augusta Tourists, 4–2, in the playoffs to win the city's first professional baseball championship. In 1910, Andrews purchased the Little Rock Travelers Southern Association franchise and placed it in Chattanooga, replacing the SALLY League club. They played at Andrews Field in the 1100 block of East 3rd Street, which remained the site of their home ballpark for nearly a century.
The Joe Engel era (1926–1965)
Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith sent former pitcher and baseball scout Joe Engel to Chattanooga to buy the Lookouts in 1926 and build a new ballpark. He opened Engel Stadium in 1930 on the site of Andrews Field. The first game at the new stadium was played April 15, 1930, in which the Lookouts beat the Atlanta Crackers, 6–5, before some 16,000 people. 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 Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth.
The Lookouts began their first Major League Baseball affiliation in 1932, becoming the Class A affiliate of the Washington Senators. The Lookouts ended that season tied with the Memphis Chicks for first place, but the pennant was awarded to Chattanooga by commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis. They then won the Dixie Series, a postseason interleague championship between the champions of the Southern Association and the Texas League, defeating the Beaumont Exporters, 4–1, in the best-of-seven series. Chattanooga continued its affiliation with Washington through 1937, though the league was reclassified as a Class A1 circuit in 1936. The 1939 club won a second Southern Association pennant, but they were swept in the first round of the playoffs by Atlanta, 3–0.
In 1941, the Lookouts returned to the Senators organization at Class A1, which was later renamed Double-A in 1946. During the 1943 season, Griffith relocated the Lookouts to Montgomery, Alabama, as the Montgomery Rebels, where they played at the Cramton Bowl due to a decline in attendance. However, they returned to Chattanooga in December of that year after Engel organized a letter-writing campaign aimed at Griffith. The 1952 club won a third Southern Association pennant but was eliminated by Memphis in the first round of the playoffs, 4–0. Their affiliation with Washington ended after the 1959 season.
The Lookouts became the Double-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1960. They won the Southern Association's final pennant in 1961, but championship playoffs were not held. Following the campaign, the Southern Association disbanding due to the loss of some of its teams and the inability of others to secure major league working agreements for 1962.
After a season of dormancy, Chattanooga returned to professional baseball in 1963 as the Double-A affiliate of the Phillies playing in the South Atlantic League. The SALLY League dissolved after the season and rebranded itself as the Southern League in 1964. The Lookouts continued as the Double-A Phillies in the new league through 1965. After the season, which drew fewer than 26,000 people to Engel Stadium, including fewer than 400 to their final game, the Lookouts folded.
Current franchise (1976–present)
Following the 1975 season, businessman Woody Reid, his son, Mark, optician Jim Crittenden, and attorney Arvin Reingold purchased the Southern League's Birmingham Barons from Charlie Finley, owner of the Oakland Athletics, and relocated the team to Chattanooga as the current incarnation of the Lookouts. They became the Athletics' Double-A affiliate. Chattanooga won the First-Half Western Division title but lost a single playoff game to the Montgomery Rebels to determine the Western Division champion.
Chattanooga served the Double-A farm team of the Cleveland Indians from 1978 to 1982. Over the five-year affiliation, the team regularly finished at or near the bottom of the league standings and did not qualify for the playoffs. Their only season with a record over .500 occurred in 1979.
They joined the Seattle Mariners organization as their Double-A club from 1983 to 1987. They incurred losing records in all five seasons without qualifying for the postseason.
The Lookouts began a 21-year affiliation with the Cincinnati Reds in 1988. The partnership began with Chattanooga winning the First-Half Western Division title and defeating the Memphis Chicks, 3–1, in the best-of-five Western Division series. The Lookouts then swept the Greenville Braves, 4–0, to win their first Southern League championship. Though they qualified for the playoffs on six subsequent occasions, they did not win another league championship during this affiliation. Chattanooga, winners of both halves of the 1992 season, reached the finals, but lost the league title to Greenville, 3–2. They were defeated in the 1995 championship round by the Carolina Mudcats, 3–2, in another series that went the full five games. The Lookouts lost the 1996 Southern League title to the Jacksonville Suns, 3–1.
In 1995, the team was purchased by a local group led by Frank Burke, who sought to finance and build a new ballpark to replace the aging Engle Stadium. The Lookouts played their final game at the long-time facility on September 12, 1999. BellSouth Park, later AT&T Field opened in 2000.
Chattanooga became the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2009. They made back-to-back playoff appearances in 2011 and 2012 but were eliminated in the first round each time. The 2014 Lookouts reached the finals but were swept by Jacksonville, 3–0.
Radio and television
All Lookouts home and road games are broadcast on 98.1 FM The Lake since 2019. Live audio broadcasts are also available online through the team's website and the Minor League Baseball mobile app. Games can be viewed through the MLB.TV streaming service, with audio provided by a radio simulcast. Larry Ward has been the lead broadcaster since 1989.
Mascot
The Chattanooga Lookouts' mascot is Looie the Lookout. He is an anthropomorphized version of the team's logo.
Achievements
Awards
One player won a Southern Association award in recognition for their performance with the Lookouts.
Six players, four managers, and five executives have won Southern League awards in recognition for their performance with the Lookouts.
These teams have won Minor League Baseball year-end awards.
Retired numbers
The Lookouts have honored one player by retiring his uniform number. This ensures that the number will be associated with one player of particular importance to the team. An additional number, 42, was retired throughout professional baseball in 1997 to honor Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era. The number 26 was retired in 2003 in honor of Dernell Stenson, an outfielder, who was murdered that autumn while playing in the Arizona Fall League.
Notable alumni
The Chattanooga Lookouts have been home to numerous future Major League Baseball All-Stars and Hall of Famers.
Jackie Mitchell (1931)
Rogers Hornsby (1938)
Ferguson Jenkins (1964)
Joe Charboneau (1976)
Harmon Killebrew (1957–1958)
Edgar Martínez (1985–1986)
Trevor Hoffman (1991–1992)
Aaron Boone (1997–1998)
Adam Dunn (2001)
Joey Votto (2006)
Jay Bruce (2007)
Kenley Jansen (2010)
Yasiel Puig (2013)
Clayton Kershaw (2014, rehab assignment)
Corey Seager (2014)
Elly De La Cruz (2022)
Hunter Greene (2022)
Matt McLain (2022)
Noelvi Marte (2022–2023)