Western Carolinas League



The Western Carolinas League was a Class D (1948–52; 1960–62) 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 Class A circuit with teams up the Eastern Seaboard from Georgia to New Jersey.

Originally called the "Western Carolina League", the 1948–52 WCL was a Class D league (equivalent to a Rookie-level league today) composed exclusively of teams located in the Piedmont and Blue Ridge sections of western North Carolina. It merged with the North Carolina State League to form the short-lived Class D Tar Heel League, which lasted only 1½ seasons (1953–54) before folding.

In 1960, the WCL was revived as a Class D circuit intended to house farm teams of the member clubs of a planned third major league, the Continental League. It featured teams in eight North Carolina locales: Gastonia, Hickory, Lexington, Newton–Conover, Rutherford County, Salisbury, Shelby and Statesville, but soon expanded to sites in South Carolina.

When the Continental League was torpedoed by the Major League Baseball expansion in 1961 and 1962, the member teams of the Western Carolinas League became affiliates of American and National League clubs. It was upgraded to Class A in the 1963 reorganization of the minor leagues. The first professional baseball team based in Monroe, North Carolina came into being when the Statesville Indians moved into town on June 20, 1969 and finished the year as the Monroe Indians. The team lasted just one season before being replaced by the Sumter Indians.

For nearly 60 years, 1948 through 2007, the WCL/SAL's dominant figure was league founder and president John Henry Moss, who started the WCL as a young man in 1948, refounded it in 1960 and then led it into the new century. Moss, also the longtime mayor of Kings Mountain, North Carolina, retired at the close of the 2007 Sally League season and died, at age 90, on July 1, 2009.

Western Carolina League (1948–52)

 * Forest City Owls
 * Gastonia Browns
 * Granite Falls Graniteers
 * Hendersonville Skylarks
 * Hickory Rebels
 * Lenoir Red Sox


 * Lincolnton Cardinals
 * Marion Marauders
 * Morganton Aggies
 * Newton-Conover Twins
 * Rutherford County Owls
 * Shelby Farmers

Western Carolinas League (1960–79)

 * Anderson Giants
 * Anderson Mets
 * Anderson Senators
 * Anderson Tigers
 * Asheville Tourists
 * Belmont Chiefs
 * Charleston Patriots
 * Charleston Pirates
 * Charlotte Twins
 * Gastonia Cardinals
 * Gastonia Pirates
 * Gastonia Rangers
 * Gastonia Rippers
 * Greensboro Hornets
 * Greenville Braves
 * Greenville Mets
 * Greenville Rangers
 * Greenville Red Sox
 * Greenwood Braves
 * Hickory Rebels
 * Lexington Braves
 * Lexington Giants
 * Lexington Indians
 * Monroe Pirates
 * Newton-Conover Twins
 * Orangeburg Cards
 * Orangeburg Dodgers
 * Rock Hill Cardinals
 * Rock Hill Indians
 * Rock Hill Wrens
 * Rutherford County Owls
 * Salisbury Astros
 * Salisbury Braves
 * Salisbury Dodgers
 * Salisbury Senators
 * Shelby Colonels
 * Shelby Pirates
 * Shelby Rebels
 * Shelby Reds
 * Shelby Senators
 * Shelby Yankees
 * Spartanburg Phillies
 * Statesville Colts
 * Statesville/Monroe Indians
 * Statesville Owls
 * Statesville Tigers
 * Sumter Astros
 * Sumter Indians
 * Thomasville Hi-Toms

League Champions

 * 1963 Greenville Braves
 * 1964 Salisbury Dodgers
 * 1965 Rock Hill Cardinals
 * 1966 Spartanburg Phillies
 * 1967 Spartanburg Phillies
 * 1968 Greenwood Braves
 * 1969 Greenwood Braves
 * 1970 Greenville Red Sox
 * 1971 Greenwood Braves
 * 1972 Spartanburg Phillies
 * 1973 Spartanburg Phillies
 * 1974 Gastonia Rangers
 * 1975 Spartanburg Phillies
 * 1976 Greenwood Braves
 * 1977 Gastonia Cardinals
 * 1978 Greenwood Braves
 * 1979 Greenwood Braves

South Atlantic Hall of Fame

 * The South Atlantic League Hall of Fame was founded in 1994 and includes Western Carolinas League alumni.