Ed Cross had managed the Landis teams from 1938 until 1942. Boone had liked playing for him. Cross was a good man and got the most out of his guys. Landis, which had gone by the nicknames Sens, Senators and Dodgers, made the NCSL championship series in 1942, falling in seven games to Thomasville.
When the league revived in 1945, most thought Cross would just assume his old role as the Landis manager. But when his face showed up on the front page of the
Salisbury Post smiling and sporting a Salisbury Pirates manager’s jersey – and making about four times the salary as before – suddenly the Landis team found itself without a skipper.
That’s when things took an unexpected turn.
Someone – depending on who you ask – half-jokingly suggested Boone take over the team. He was local. He knew the game. And he wasn’t going anywhere.
The joke stuck.
A few conversations later, it wasn’t a joke anymore.
By late January of 1945, Boone Tucker found himself signing papers (and also getting his mug in the
Salisbury Post) to become the youngest manager in the newly revived North Carolina State League. His starting pay: $288 per year.
And away we go, with Boone (me) at the helm of the Landis Millers!
The Landis, NC, ball club circa 1940s. The team was known as the Landis Millers at the start of the 1945 North Carolina State League season.