Although Macon did not field teams during and immediately after World War I, the height of the
Great Depression and World War II, the name
Peaches was used continuously between and , except for 1916–1917. The Peaches nickname was also used from 1961–1964, 1966–1967, and 1980–1982. Much of that time, the Peaches played in the
original South Atlantic "Sally" League, although they made brief appearances in the
Southeastern League and the
Southern Association. After 1929, the team played at
Luther Williams Field. Macon was represented by
professional baseball teams in the 19th century and joined the Sally League in 1904 as the
Highlanders. From 1956–1960, Macon's team was known as the
Macon Dodgers, adopting the name of their parent club.
Reds' farm team produced Rose, Pérez, May and Helms From 1962–1964, the Peaches were an important upper-level affiliate (
Double-A after 1962) of the
Cincinnati Reds, producing
Pete Rose,
Tony Pérez,
Lee May and
Tommy Helms. All four were members of Cincinnati's first "
Big Red Machine" team, the
National League champions. Rose and Pérez would be cornerstones of the dynasty, while May and Helms would be traded to the
Houston Astros after 1971 to obtain
Baseball Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan, who would help lead the Reds to the NL pennant in and
World Series titles in and . Macon was Rose's last minor league address before he launched his Major League career as the
National League Rookie of the Year. He had
batted .330 for the 1962 Peaches. ==After the Peaches==