The Bassett Furnituremakers made the league playoffs in each year of their existence. Bassett won three consecutive league championship from 1936 to 1938. They won the championships under a different manager – the 1936 Bi-State League Championship under Ernie Jenkins, the 1937 championship under Ray White and the third, in 1938, under Walter Novak.[citation needed]
They were one of only two baseball teams to ever play professionally in Bassett. They were followed in 1950 by the Bassett Statesman, who played a partial 1950 season in the Class D Blue Ridge League. The Wytheville Statesman moved to Bassett on July 27, 1950 due to the polio epidemic.[1]
Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop Phil Rizzuto played for the 1937 Bassett Furnituremakers. In his first professional season, Rizzuto helped Bassett to the league championship, hitting .310 with 5 home runs in 64 games at age 19. Of his season in Bassett, Rizzuto remarked, "The people were so nice, but they couldn’t understand me with my Brooklyn accent, and I couldn’t understand them with their Southern accent."[2][3]
The ballpark
Bassett teams played at Riverside Park. Riverside Park had a capacity of 1,800 (1939). The field dimensions were (Left, Center, Right) 325-387-325 (1939). The ballpark was located on Riverside Drive.[4]