The Tar Heel League was a mid-20th century Class D level professional minor baseball league , based in North Carolina in the United States . It operated during the full seasons of 1939 , 1940 and 1953 , and from the opening of the season through June 21, 1954 .
4-681: The first incarnation of the league began and ended the 1939 season with six clubs, but the following year saw the Shelby Nationals and Newton-Conover Twins — one third of the Tar Heel League — drop out on July 19, 1940. The entire league then shut down for 1941 and through World War II . During the postwar boom in minor league baseball, the Tar Heel circuit remained dormant, while the Class D level North Carolina State League resumed play in 1945 and
8-608: A new Class D circuit, the Western Carolina League , entered organized baseball in 1948 . When the 1950s brought dwindling attendance to minor league baseball and clubs and leagues began to contract, the North Carolina State and Western Carolina leagues merged into a revived Tar Heel League for 1953. A large, ten–club circuit, the 1953 THL shed two teams on June 11 and relocated a third. The 1954 Tar Heel League fielded four teams, before permanently folding 50 games into
12-891: The season. The Western Carolina League returned to baseball in 1960, and still plays as the Class A level South Atlantic League . Playoffs: Gastonia 3 games, Shelby 1. Statesville 3 games, Lenoir 0. (1 tie.) Finals: Gastonia 4 games, Statesville 3. Player statistics schedule Newton-Conover and Shelby disbanded July 19. Playoffs: Hickory 3 games, Gastonia 0. Statesville 3 games, Lenoir 2. Finals: Statesville 4 games, Hickory 1. Player statistics schedule High-Point-Thomasville & Statesville disbanded June 11. Lincolnton moved to Statesville July 12. Playoffs: Marion 4 games, Shelby 2. Lexington 4 games, Forest City 2. Finals: Lexington 4 games, Marion 2. Player statistics schedule The League disbanded June 21. Player statistics Shelby Nationals The Shelby Reds ,
16-696: Was the primary name of a minor league baseball team that played in Shelby, North Carolina , between 1937 and 1982. The Reds were a member of the Western Carolinas League , before transferring with the league to the South Atlantic League in 1980. The club was initially affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds . In 1979, the Pittsburgh Pirates became their affiliate, changing the team's name to
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