Baseball Hall of Fame member Earl Weaver was the player/manager for Fitzgerald in 1957 In 1953, the team joined the Georgia–Florida League and became an affiliate of the Cincinnati Redlegs.
The following year the team name changed to the Fitzgerald Redlegs, to match their affiliate.
[citation needed] On July 19, 1952, at Pilots Field against the Statesboro Pilots, Joe Reliford of the visiting Fitzgerald Pioneers, age 12, became the youngest person to play in a professional baseball game.
Reliford simultaneously broke the racial barrier for the segregated Georgia State League.
A photo of Reliford in uniform is housed in the Baseball Hall of Fame Library in Cooperstown, NY.