Valdese Red Tops 1936

 

Sing Sing Baseball Ticket

 

Birmingham News coverage of Pitts' attempt to play for Albany

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-birmingham-news/40886632/ 

At 14-96, the Granite Falls Graniteers had the worst minor league record of all time in 1951.

https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/stats/t-gg11774/y-1951 

Valdese, one of the few teams that only played in the outlaw league

https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/roster/t-vt15105/y-1936 

The 1937 outlaw league Concord Weavers drew a franchise high 70K with veteran manager Bobby Hipps at the helm.

https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/stats/t-cw11051/y-1937 

Ponce De Leon Park, Atlanta, 60s

 

Hank Utley's donation to the Charlotte Mecklenburg library is the best source for the Independent Carolina Outlaw League

https://www.cmstory.org/exhibits/outlaw-carolina-baseball-league-1936-1938/outlaw-carolina-baseball-league-1936-1938 

Norman Pinkie James, Hickory's greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th Century, played football for Wallace Wade

https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/stats/p-ae579ae3 

Weight of Bat, Ruth and Pujols

 

George Barley, once a Yankees Prospect, pitched in the outlaw league in 1936

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=barley001geo 

1978 Kinston Eagles, Manager Leo Mazzone

https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/stats/t-ke12357/y-1978 

Everybody had a team back in the day, even Mayberry

https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/t-mg13150 

KInston had an amazingly strong baseball tradition for a town so small.

https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/t-ke12357 

Bill Herring had quite a minor league pitching career. You'd think he'd have gotten a shot at the MLB. Pitched in the Easter Monday baseball game in Raleigh, 40s

https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/stats/p-d57e72d7 

Look at the attendance in Goldsboro in 1946. Amazing.

https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/t-gg11723 

We did a chapter on him in Outlaw Ballplayers

 

Don Padgett Lenoir-Rhyne alumni

https://baseballhall.org/discover/padgett-catches-a-glimpse-of-history-for-1939-cardinals#:~:text=Despite%20this%20offensive%20might%2C%20St,the%20third%2Dplace%20finisher%20at%20. 

Eddie Yount played and managed in three of my books, for Wake Forest in the Easter Monday Baseball Game, one year as an outlaw player, and that magical stint at career's end as player-manager for the Newton-Conover Twins.

https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/stats/p-c0c287ef 

Norman Small who hit 336 homers as a minor leaguer and played for the 1936 Mooresville outlaw team

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=small-001nor 

Prince Oana who played for Hickory Rebels Outlaw League Team

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=oana--001hen 

Vince Barton's 5 HR game

https://web.archive.org/web/20170602121113/http://www.oneforfive.com/vince-barton-and-the-5-home-run-game/ 

Still my favorite Atlanta Stadium

 

 

Jim Poole Baseball Poem

 

James Ralph “Easy” Poole hailed from

Alexander County, the first

Scholarship player at Lenoir College

In 1912 at age seventeen.

Easy’s dark eyes stare back

From the glossy photo Hank Utley

Had made forty years ago,

A lanky left-handed hitter

Who blasted 50 homers

For the Nashville Vols in ’30,

Played for twenty-three teams

From 1914 to 1946,

Portland, Oregon, to Statesville,

NC, everywhere between

And even all around,

Plus, three years, 1925-27

For Connie Mack in Philly.

3,089 hits, 270 home runs,

659 doubles, 99 triples.

I need no flashy words as these

Numbers are baseball poetry,

Beautiful on their own,

And if that’s not enough,

The Taylorsville boy became

A player-coach in the 30s,

Even managing two of his sons

In 1941, at Class D Fort Pierce.

Winning titles multiple times.

 It was a long road for Easy,

Which is why his eyes turned dark

As the knotholes in the ball park

Fences boys watched him through.

Jim Poole, a pretty insane minor league career--also played three years for the Phil Athletics

https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/stats/p-f64e8078 

This is what a pitcher's record looks like when he got blackballed by the NAPBL for playing in the outlaw Carolina League in 1936. Does not include outlaw league record

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=hitchn001tra 

Wes Ferrell who should be in the HOF

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=ferrel001wes 

Baseball in Catawba County a film by Robert Canipe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra8k_KV-oz0&t=92s 

Old Article from Statesville paper on Outlaw Ballplayers

https://iredell.lib.nc.us/Blog.aspx?IID=57 

Outstanding Baseball Website

baseballhistorycomesalive.com/?fbclid=IwY2xjawLhJfFleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFJZ1docUFlaUM4UkYwZlNWAR64JO8UqJNyZf8XzIhSFjfsoP1Z7_q32yOnqFk97A4jn1nTJcg2CpbHBr2YiQ_aem_Mf83R2U9STZ1069iMT7-MA 

Another Article this one announcing Pitts' marriage to 18 year-old Mary Walker

https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news/47983682/ 

Article about Pitts in Dayton Daily News

https://www.newspapers.com/article/dayton-daily-news/97952957/ 

Outlaw Ballplayer Poem

 

Mr. Whitley

Who owned Whitley’s Furniture and Funeral home

And the Kannapolis Towelers baseball team,

Had a room over his business where he kept

Mattresses enough for his players to sleep

The night before a big game

Or when they played the hated rival

The Concord Weavers. Mr. Whitley

Locked them in: the Watts brothers,

Marvin and Ginger, the famous college

Football player, Eric Tipton, the preacher

Glenn “Razz” Miller, the manager, Buck

Redfern, star pitcher “Coddle Creek” Taylor,

But especially former MLB slugger, Vince

Barton, who would otherwise be

At a Cabarrus County roadhouse.

Outlaws, all of them: Mr. Whitley

In his mortician’s suit gave them

A pep talk: reminded the team that

They were part of town history.

Then left them to their thoughts

In the room above the mortuary.

Vince Barton and the five homer game

https://web.archive.org/web/20170602121113/http://www.oneforfive.com/vince-barton-and-the-5-home-run-game/ 

Fulton County Stadium Atlanta

 

Mo Vaughn

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6188748/2025/03/10/mo-vaughn-hgh-mitchell-report/?smid=bsky-nytimes 

The Journal Herald of Dayton coverage of Pitts' death

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-journal-herald-alabama-pitts/21575600/ 

When Raleigh Had Baseball

https://dtraleigh.com/2010/03/baseball-in-downtown-devereux-meadow-meets-progress-in-raleigh/ 

This is just too crazy--Jeff Reardon

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/former-expos-reliever-arrested-for-armed-robbery-1.560234 

Hank Utley Baseball Collection

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.cmstory.org/sites/default/files/special_collections/Utley%20Papers.pdf 

Hank Utley's Charlotte Library Collection of outlaw league ballplayers

https://www.cmstory.org/exhibits/outlaw-carolina-baseball-league-1936-1938/outlaw-carolina-baseball-league-1936-1938 

Pitts' sister-in-law who died at age five and is buried in same cemetery as him

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/107803182/ruby_l_walker 

I especially like the inclusion of Wagner-saw him register 100 a few times in Atlanta--he played football and baseball at little Ferrum College in VA, which is pretty cool

https://www.mlb.com/news/2025-baseball-hall-of-fame-election-results 

Some good quotes and a few inaccuracies

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/the-amazing-story-of-alabama-pitts-robber-prisoner-and-philadelphia-eagle/371383/