Classification | Class D (1948–1952: 1960–1962) |
---|---|
Sport | Minor League Baseball |
Inaugural season | 1948 |
Ceased | 1962 |
Replaced by | Tar Heel League Western Carolinas League |
President | John Henry Moss (1948) Cloyd A. Hager (1949–1950) P.W. Deaton (1951) T. Earl Franklin (1952) John Henry Moss (1960–1962) [1] |
No. of teams | 12 |
Country | United States of America |
Most titles | 3 Shelby Farmers / Shelby Colonels |
The original Western Carolina League was a Class D circuit in Minor League Baseball which was ideated and created by John Henry Moss.
The league ran from 1948 to 1952, then combined with the North Carolina State League to form the Tar Heel League in 1953. [1]
The second Western Carolina League was formed as a Class-D circuit in 1960. After three years, its name was changed to become the Western Carolinas League. [1]
U.S. Route 321 (US 321) is a spur of U.S. Route 21. It runs for 516.9 miles (831.9 km) from Hardeeville, South Carolina to Lenoir City, Tennessee; with both serving as southern termini. It reaches its northernmost point at Elizabethton, Tennessee, just northeast of Johnson City. Because of its unusual "north–south–north" routing, U.S. Route 321 intersects both Interstate 40 and U.S. Route 70 three separate times. The highway serves different roles in each state: An alternate route to interstates in South Carolina, a major highway in North Carolina, and a scenic route in Tennessee.
The Western Carolinas League was a Class D and a low Class A (1963–79) full-season league in American minor league baseball. The WCL changed its name prior to the 1980 season and has been known since as the South Atlantic League, a highly successful Class A circuit with teams up the Eastern Seaboard from Georgia to New Jersey.
Area code 828 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for most of the western third of the U.S. state of North Carolina. The numbering plan area (NPA) comprises the Blue Ridge Mountains and most of the Foothills. The largest city is Asheville.
North Carolina Highway 18 (NC 18) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Traveling north–south through the Foothills region, it connects the cities of Shelby, Morganton, Lenoir, Wilkesboro and North Wilkesboro.
The North Carolina State League was a Class D level league in Minor League Baseball. The original version of the league played from 1913 to 1917 as the successor to the Carolina Association. The second version of the league was established in 1937 in part in order to compete with the Piedmont-region independent league, the Carolina League, and ran through 1953 when it combined with the Western Carolina League to form the Tar Heel League.
The Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of four counties, Catawba, Burke, Caldwell, Alexander. It is located in the Catawba Valley region of western North Carolina. Local residents often refer to the area as The Unifour, although this name is largely unknown outside of the region.
The Lincolnton Cardinals of Lincolnton, North Carolina, United States were a minor league baseball team. They began play when the Western Carolina League was formed in 1948. They won the league's first title that season. In 1953, they joined the Tar Heel League and played one season there.
The Tar Heel League was a mid-20th century Class D level professional minor baseball league, based in North Carolina in the United States. It operated during the full seasons of 1939, 1940 and 1953, and from the opening of the season through June 21, 1954.
The Carolina & Northwestern Railway (Ca&NW) was a railroad that served South Carolina and North Carolina from 1897 until January 1, 1974. The original line was operated by the Ca&NW as a separate railroad controlled by the Southern Railway until 1974 when the name was changed to the Norfolk Southern Railway. On June 1, 1982, Southern Railway and Norfolk and Western Railroad merged to form Norfolk Southern Railway. Choosing to use the name 'Norfolk Southern Railway' for the merger, in 1981, the original Ca&NW line along with original Norfolk Southern Railway was renamed Carolina and Northwestern once again. In the early 1950s several shortline subsidiaries of the Southern Railway were leased to the Ca&NW for operation, with these lines remaining a part of the Ca&NW into the 1980s.
The Gastonia Cardinals were a minor league baseball team based in Gastonia, North Carolina on two separate occasions, playing as a minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals in both instances. The first Gastonia Cardinals team played as members of the Class D level North Carolina State League in 1938 and the Tar Heel League in 1939 and 1940, winning the 1939 league championship. Three decades later, the second Cardinals team played from 1977 to 1982 as members of the Class A level Western Carolinas League and its 1980 successor, the South Atlantic League. The Cardinals teams hosted home games from 1938 to 1940 at the Gastonia High School Stadium and subsequently at Sims Legion Park, which is still in use today.
The Carolina League was an "outlaw" professional baseball league in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. Drawing from the textile mills and milling towns in that region, the league was independent, meaning that it was not a part of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, the body that governed minor-league baseball during the league's lifetime. The Carolina League was the successor to the short-lived 1935 Carolina Textile League.
John Henry Moss was a baseball executive and politician. Well known for his strong leadership and organizational skills, Moss was a key contributor to the development of Minor League Baseball during more than six decades, helping bring professional baseball to 43 United States cities represented by 114 ownership groups, by stressing the importance of providing quality, wholesome, family-friendly entertainment at an affordable price. Over the years, Moss gained inductions into five Halls of Fame and also received numerous honours for his commendable contributions to baseball.
The Statesville Owls were a minor league baseball team located in Statesville, North Carolina. Statesville minor league teams played a member of the North Carolina Association (1900), Tar Heel League (1939–1940), North Carolina State League,, Tar Heel League (1953), Western Carolina League (1960–1962) and Western Carolinas League, winning three league championships.
The Concord Weavers were a minor league baseball team based in Concord, North Carolina. Between 1936 and 1951, Concord teams played as a member of the Independent level Carolina League from 1936 to 1938 and the Class D level North Carolina State League from 1939 to 1942 and 1945 to 1951, winning two league pennants and one championship. The franchise played as the Concord Nationals from 1949 to 1950 and Concord Sports in 1951, with Concord teams hosting minor league home games at Webb Field.
The Morganton Aggies were a minor league baseball team based in Morganton, North Carolina. From 1948 to 1952, the Aggies played exclusively as members of the Class D level Western Carolina League, winning the 1951 league pennant. Morgantown hosted home minor league games at the Morganton High School Park.
The Rutherford County Owls were a minor league baseball team based in the Rutherford County, North Carolina cities of Spindale, North Carolina and Forest City, North Carolina. Between 1936 and 1960, the Rutherford County based teams played as members of the 1936 Carolina League, the Western Carolina League from 1948 to 1952, Tar Heel League from 1953 to 1954 and Western Carolina League in 1960, winning the 1949 league championship and qualifying for the playoffs six other times. The franchise played as the Forest City Owls in the 1948 and 1953 seasons.
The Hendersonville Skylarks were a minor league baseball team based in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Hendersonville played an initial season in the 1904 Carolina Interstate League, before the Skylarks became members of the Class D level Western Carolina League in 1948 and 1949. The Skylarks hosted home games at the Western North Carolina Fairgrounds.
The Lenoir Red Sox were a minor league baseball team based in Lenoir, North Carolina. Between 1937 and 1951, Lenoir teams played as members of the 1937 and 1938 Carolina League, 1939 and 1940 Tar Heel League, 1946 and 1947 Blue Ridge League and the Western Carolina League from 1948 to 1951, winning three league championships. Lenoir teams hosted home minor league games at the Lenoir High School Field.
The Newton–Conover Twins were a minor league baseball team based in Newton, North Carolina. The team was operated in partnership with neighboring Conover, North Carolina. Newton–Conover Twins teams played as members of the North Carolina State League in 1937 and 1938, Tar Heel League in 1939 and 1940 and the Western Carolina League from 1948 to 1951 and again from 1961 to 1963. The Twins played home minor league games in Newton, Carolina.
Minor league baseball teams were based in Lexington, North Carolina between 1937 and 1967. Lexington teams played as members of the Carolina League in 1936, North Carolina State League from 1937 to 1942 and 1945 to 1952, Tar Heel League in 1953 Western Carolina League from 1960 to 1961 and Western Carolinas League from 1963 to 1967. Lexington won two league championships.