North Carolina Baseball History
A state with a particularly rich history in the sport, baseball has been played on a professional level in over 70 different North Carolina communities. In 1948 alone, 48 different towns fielded a team. Even today minor league baseball is still popular with teams currently playing in ten of the state's cities.
Baseball has also played an important role in the state's history at the non-professional level. Up through the 1950s it was common for every town to have a semi-pro or amateur team. Rivalries between some towns were fierce. Textile mill baseball was also important as mill teams gave workers a welcomed distraction from their factory jobs.
Eventually, as time allows, I will add more information about baseball in North Carolina. For now this site will primarily be used for providing information about books on the subject written by myself or others.
I had two book projects published in 2002. The first, entitled Baseball in the Carolinas, is a collection of 25 non-fiction stories covering all aspects of the game as it has been played in both North and South Carolina over the past 100 years -everything from Little League to the professional minor leagues. I wrote a couple of stories in the book but primarily I served as the editor. Contributors to the book were Marshall Adesman, Bijan Bayne, David Beal, Parker Chesson, John Crabill, Matthew Eddy, Robert Gaunt, Thomas Perry, Buck Rogers, Gene Sapakoff, Leverett Smith, Hank Utley, and Miles Wolff. I was honored that former big league player and manager Clyde King wrote the foreword. The book was published by McFarland and Company in 2002.
The second book is Baseball in North Carolina's Piedmont.A collection of more than 200 photographs, it was also released in spring 2002 by Arcadia Publishing. I am excited about this book because it contains many never-before- published photos. I divided it up into chapters including youth, college, and semi-pro textile mill and town teams. The largest section is the professional minor leagues, which have been an important part of the social history of the central part of North Carolina for a century.
My first book, published in 1998, is Professional Baseball in North Carolina. Click here to see the 1937 Mooresville Moors, one of the great teams in state history.
In the summer of 2003, I strayed from baseball and turned to another sport: auto racing. Click here to learn more about this book and Virginia International Raceway, one of this country's premier road racing venues.
Most recently I teamed up with Texas minor league historian Mark Presswood for a pair of books: Baseball in Dallas and Baseball in Fort Worth. Mark is a native of Fort Worth and Dallas is my hometown so this was a fun project. You can click on the links to find these books on Amazon.com or they are available from Arcadia Publishing.
I am currently working on a book about the Tobacco State League and am always looking for more information about that league. The league operated in southeastern North Carolina from 1946-50. Click here to see members of the 1947 Smithfield-Selma Leafs, one of the teams in that league.
I am also a collector of any memorabilia relating to the sport of baseball in North Carolina. I am particularly interested in photographs and uniforms but will consider anything. If you have anything you would like to sell or trade, feel free to e-mail me: choladay@sportsendeavors.com
Click here to see books from other authors on North Carolina baseball history.
Check out my photo gallery for North Carolina baseball photographs or visit my links page for some other interesting sites.
