State

Tar Heel Big Leaguers You may be somewhat surprised to know that there are fifty-three native North Carolinians in major league baseball this season. Twenty-four of them are pitchers. North Carolina, the base¬ ball cradle of the nation, will have at least fifty-three of its native sons playing on the Na¬ tional and American baseball league teams during the coming summer months when sports writ¬ ers predict fans will see a bigger and better game of baseball be¬ cause of the recent avalanche of talent released from the armed services. Out of this astonishing number, twenty-four members of this group of North Carolinians are listed as pitchers on the various major league rosters. About half of these twirlers saw service in the armed forces during World War II. Gastonia Leads An accurate check of the rosters of all the big leagues reveals that Gastonia, one of the largest tex¬ tile centers of the world, leads in sending players to the major leagues with a total of six. Win¬ ston-Salem and Charlotte, rank second and third respectively in supplying the big leagues with baseball talent. In 1945, a baseball season that saw a dramatic ending of World War II, 27 North Carolina natives were listed on the major league rosters, while another 26 Tar Heel "big leaguers" were serving their Uncle Sam in the uniform of navy blue, army khaki or marine green. This year, with the war over on all fronts, and more than 130,000,- 000 Americans over enthusiastic about seeing a good gome of major league baseball, the Carolinians should set records that have never been equaled in the annals of the grand and glorious game. In recent weeks North Carolina's high-salaried baseball artists have been playing a number of exhibi¬ tion games in their native environs when their individual dubs played contests at Charlotte, Greensboro, Hickory, etc. The fifty-three North Carolinians listed on the rosters of the Ameri¬ can and National League this year are: St. Louis Cardinals: Glen Gard¬ ner, pitcher, Burnsville; Max La- Bp s n iu.is MAY nier, pitcher, Denton; Enos Slaugh¬ ter, outfielder. Roxboro. Pittsburgh Pirates: Johnny Lan- ing. pitcher, Asheville. Burgess Whitehead, infielder, T a r b о r o; Jimmy Brown, infielder, Washing¬ ton; James Hopper, pitcher, Char¬ lotte; Bill Baker, catcher, Salis¬ bury. Boston Braves: Charles Cozart, pitcher, Lenoir; Dick Culler, in- fielder. High Point. Brooklyn Dodgers: Clyde King, pitcher, Goldsboro; Claude Crocker, Winston-Salem; Tom Seats, pitcher, Farmington; Lew Riggs, infielder, Mebane; Les Burge, infielder, High Point; Don Padgett, outfielder, Forest City, and Rube Melton, sen¬ sational pitching star of a few years back who’s been throwing 'em for Uncle Sam during the war years. Melton hails from Gastonia. Philadelphia Phils: Dick Mauney, pitcher, Concord; Charles Ripple, pitcher, Bolton; Lee Ross, pitcher, Norwood; Fred Daniels, infielder, Gastonia; Coaker Trip¬ lett, outfielder, Boone; Roger Mc¬ Kee, pitcher. Shelby. New York Giants: Clyde Klutzz, catcher, Salisbury; Jim Mallory, outfielder, Salisbury; Carroll Lock- man, outfielder, Lowell, and Jim Maynard, an outfielder who hails from Henderson. Cincinnati Reds: Nat Andrews, Boston Braves "bad boy" of last season, a pitcher of Pembroke; Van Harrington, infielder, Thomasville; Garland Lawing, outfielder, Gas¬ tonia; Howard Moss, also an outer- gardener from Gastonia. Chicago Cubs: Dewey Williams, an old timer who's been handling the job of catcher in a lot of the Wrigley Field clubs games, comes from Durham. American Lean lie Detroit Tigers: Zebulon Eaton, pitcher, Cooleemee; Rufus J. Gen¬ try, pitcher, Winston-Salem; Robert Gillespie, another mound artist who is also a native of the twin- city- Winston-Salem. Washington Senators: J. K. (Buddy) Lewis, infielder, Gas¬ tonia; Jacob Early, catcher. Kings Mountain; Lawrence Davis, in¬ fielder. Gastonia; Rae Scarborough, pitcher, Mt. Gilead; Stan Spence, outfielder. Kinston: Л1 Evans, catcher, of Kinlcy. Chicago White Sox: Lee Ross, pitcher, Norwood; Dan Reynolds, infielder. Stony Point, and Luke Appling, an infielder from High Point. Philadelphia Athletics: T. Wood- row Croson. pitcher. High Point; Alfred S. Jarlett. pitcher. Rocky Mount; Robert L. Wilkins, in¬ fielder. Denton, and Taft Wright, outfielder, of North Lumberton. New York Yankees: Michael Garbark, catcher. Charlotte: Ken¬ neth Holcombe, pitcher, Asheville; Paul Campbell, infielder, Charlotte, and Jacob Wade, a pitcher of Moorehead City. Boston Red Sox: Mace Brown, itcher, Greensboro; Robert Gar- ar, catcher. Charlotte. Garbark, a rookie back-stop with Joe Cronin's outfit last year, proved to be sen¬ sational in many ways. He was the only catcher that could really handle Dave "Boo" Ferris, the big right-hander who garnered his share of the American League wins last season. Garbark should be at his best in his second season with the Boston Red Sox this year. The majority of these fifty-three North Carolina players listed on the Major League rosters tins sea¬ son are old-timers because they have been with their respective clubs for a number of years. At least ninety per cent of the total number of North Carolinians now listed on the major league rosters will finish in the big leagues when the '46 season calls it "curtains." Rick Ferrell. North Carolina’s dean of old-timers, retired from active play with his Washington Senator club last year after a suc¬ cessful season to accept a place as a coach on the same club. In Rick's place this year if you look closely you are likely to find King's Moun¬ tain’s Jacob Early. Next time you are in any of the (Continued on p aye 26) THE STATE. April 27. 1946 13