The North Carolina State League: Roots in the Early 1900s
Running parallel to the Carolina League will be the North Carolina State League—a grittier, more intimate circuit built around smaller cities, mill towns and deeply local (passionate!) fan bases.
These are the eight clubs that will make up the 1945 NCSL:
Concord Weavers
Hickory Rebels
Landis Millers
Lexington A’s
Mooresville Moors
Salisbury Pirates
Statesville A’s
Thomasville Dodgers
The original North Carolina State League operated from 1913 to 1917 and featured six teams that are now in our Carolina League – Raleigh, Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Durham and Asheville.
A second version of the NCSL ran from 1937 to 1942, and that incarnation leaned heavily into smaller towns and textile communities. Every team in this 1945 relaunch fielded a club at some point during that pre-war stretch.
A few teams that did not return to play in 1945 but who played in the NCSL before the war – and who may appear here at a later date!! – include the Kannapolis Towelers (still one of my all-time favorite nicknames), the Cooleemee Cools/Cards, the Gastonia Cardinals, the Newton-Conover Twins and the Shelby Cardinals.
Yes, we like our Cardinal nicknames in North Carolina. It is our state bird after all.
The Mooresville Moors played in the North Carolina State League in the 1940s.