Western Carolinas League (1979)
South Atlantic League (1980)
Tombstone
Born: 1979 – Affiliation change from Shelby Reds
Affiliation Change: 1981 (Shelby Mets)
First Game: April 14, 1979 (L ?-? @ Spartanburg Phillies)
Last Game: August 29, 1980 (L 6-2 @ Spartanburg Phillies)
Western Carolinas League Championships: None
South Atlantic League Championships: None
Stadium
Ownership & Affiliation
Attendance
In addition to finishing with the worst record in the WCL and the Sally League in both 1979 and 1980, Shelby also ranked last (a distant last) in the leagues’ respective attendance charts in both seasons.
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Source: The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.), Lloyd Johnson & Miles Wolff, 2007
Background
The Shelby Pirates were a Class A farm club of the Pittsburgh Pirates that operated in 1979 and 1980 in the small Western North Carolina city of Shelby (pop. 15,310 in 1980). Shelby had long but spotty track record of hosting Minor League ball dating back to the Great Depression. Shelby clubs played under a dozen different names between 1936 and 1982, none lasting more than five years at a stretch.
The Pirates arrived in 1979, replacing the departing Cincinnati Reds who had sponsored the local nine in 1977 and 1978. Shelby finished at the bottom of the six-team Western Carolinas League in 1979 with a 56-78 record. 20-year old first baseman Eddie Vargas was a bright spot for the last place club, winning league MVP honors after hitting .282 with 31 homers and 78 RBI.
After the 1979 season the Western Carolinas League expanded into Georgia for the first time, precipitating a name change to the South Atlantic League. The Pirates once again finished with the worst record in the league in 1980 (58-80).
Future Major League starting pitchers Mike Bielecki and Jose DeLeon played for Shelby in 1981. DeLeon would lead the National League in strikeouts in 1989 as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals pitching staff.
Infielder Rafael Belliard (Shelby ’81) was the last ex-Shelby Pirate active in professional baseball. After playing his final Major League game for the Atlanta Braves in 1998, Belliard spent part of the 1999 season playing independent baseball in New York before hanging up his spikes for good.
End of the Road
Pittsburgh pulled out following the 1980 season. The New York Mets took over as Shelby’s parent club and last two more summers before departing at the end of the 1982. Professional baseball has never returned to Shelby since the Shelby Mets left town.
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