Statesville Indians

Western Carolinas League (1969)

Tombstone

Born: April 4, 1969
Moved: June 19, 1969 (Monroe Indians)¹

First Game: April 14, 1969 (L 10-5 vs. Shelby Senators)
Last Game: June 19, 1969 (L 12-3 vs. Shelby Senators)

Western Carolina League Champions: None

Stadium

City Stadium

Ownership & Affiliation

Owner: Cleveland Indians (Vernon Stouffer)

Major League Affiliation: Cleveland Indians

Attendance

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Source: The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (1st ed.), Lloyd Johnson & Miles Wolff, 1993

Background

This Cleveland Indians farm club was the final professional baseball club to make their home in this small North Carolina city of Statesville (pop. 20,007 at the 1970 census). Statesville, like so many small cities across the country, received federal funds from the Works Progress Administration to build a ballpark during the Great Depression. City Stadium opened in 1939 and hosted a succession of pro teams over the years, usually (but not always) known as the Owls.

The 1969 Statesville Indians were a particularly slapdash effort. The Cleveland Indians, who owned the club directly, announced the team would play in Statesville on April 4, 1969 just ten days before the Western Carolinas League season was set to open.

Disappointed with anemic attendance in Statesville, Cleveland abruptly shifted the club one hour south the Monroe, North Carolina on June 19th, 1969, just as the second half of the WCL season got underway.

Statesville/Monroe finished the 1969 season in 3rd place in the Western Carolinas League with a 61-63 record. Neither city returned to the league in 1970, as Cleveland moved its operation to Sumter, South Carolina. Statesville has never seen another pro ball club since the Indians left town that summer.

Movin’ On Up

Five members of the 1969 Statesville/Monroe Indians eventually advanced to the Major Leagues: pitchers Mark Ballinger, Ed Farmer and Tom Kelley, plus catcher Larry Johnson and shortstop Rob Belloir.

Ed Farmer was the most successful, appearing in 370 Major League games between 1971 and 1983. He earned an All-Star nod with the Chicago White Sox during the 1980 season. Farmer was also the last active player from the Statesville/Monroe club, pitching his final professional game for the Class AAA Hawaii Islanders in 1986. After hanging ’em up, Farmer spent 29 years as a radio broadcaster for the White Sox, calling games right up until the time of his passing in the spring of 2020.