Minor League history: Carolina Association
The Carolina Association was a class D league that saw action for the first time in 1908 The league ran for five years before it moved on under a different name. For a class D league in those days, the league was unusually stable. It contained the same six cities for the entire five year run. It is assumed that in 1913 the league shed off the South Carolna teams, added three North Carolina teams and went on under the name North Carolina State League which would run until 1918 when it folded due to the American war effort.
Cities represented:
Anderson, SC: Anderson Electricians 1908-1912
Charlotte, NC: Charlotte Hornets 1908-1912, moved to North Carolina State League 1913-1917
Greensboro, NC: Greensboro Champs 1908, 1910; Greensboro Patriots 1909, 1911-1912, moved to North Carolina State League 1913-1917
Greenville, SC: Greenville Spinners 1908-1912
Spartanburg, SC: Spartanburg Spartans 1908-1910, moved from South Carolina League 1907; Spartanburg Red Sox 1911-1912
Winston-Salem, NC: Winston-Salem Twins 1908-1912, moved to North Carolina State League 1913-1917
If you wonder where the name of the Anderson Electricians came from: The Team name was based on Anderson’s establishing a hydro-electrical plant a few years earlier to provide the city its first ever electric lighting.
The Charlotte Athletic Association was formed in 1902. The club would later be named the Charlotte Hornets. President would be lumber merchant J.H. Wearn. Wearn would become the president of the Carolina Association. In the Blue Ridge League, a similar double interest by Charles H. Boyer, owner of the Hagerstown franchise in that league, wasn’t accepted by the other owners. The Hornets once were the team of a certain Archibald “Moonlight” Graham, immortalized in the movie Field of Dreams.
The name of the Greenville Spinners was based on the city’s textile industry. In 1908 a certain Joe Jackson joined the Greenville Spinners. It didn’t take long before he was signed to the bigs as the Philadelphia Athletics signed him. But Jackson could not adjust to life in a big city and was sent back to the minors pretty quick. Eventually the Athletics traded him to the Cleveland Naps. In 1908, Jackson led the league in batting average (.346), hits (120) and RBI (72).
The Greensboro Champs were a complete new team. It was the first time since 1905 that the city had a professional team again. The team was managed by player/coach James McKevit, who played first base. In 1909 the team was named Patriots to change it back in 1910. In 1911 the team changed its name back to Patriots again and that remained for the rest of the run of the league. In those days it was rather common to name yourself champs in the year after you won the championship, so it remains a question why a complete new team would call itself champions…
Professional baseball in Spartanburg dates back to 1902. In 1907 the
Spartanburg Spartans played in the South Carolina League but the team jumped leagues in 1908 and joined the Carolina Association.
After the 1910 season it was questionable if Spartansburg would have a professional team in the coming season. The club operated with a loss and a meeting was held in the building of the local Chamber of Commerce. Eventually it was decided that the club could continue to play because fans subscribed to increase the capital stock of the club. In 1911 the team changed its name into Red Sox.
The Winston-Salem Twins carried the name because of the twin cities they were located at. The Twins were only the second professional baseball team in Winston-Salem. The previous one came from another twin city: Salisbury-Spencer in 1905 in the Virginia-North Carolina League.
In the first two years in the Carolina Association, the team didn’t finish higher than fourth place, but in 1911, they won the pennant with a six game league over the Greensboro Patriots.
It is not quite clear what happened to the Carolina Association after the 1912 season. One source says that the league dropped the teams from South Carolina and continued with three new North Carolina clubs as the North Carolina State League. Another source says that the Carolina Association folder after the 1912 season.