Category: Carolina League

1980 Alexandria Dukes Baseball Program from the Carolina League

Alexandria Dukes / Alexandria Mariners

March 5, 2023

The Alexandria Dukes were a Class A Carolina League minor league baseball team that played in the Washington D.C. suburbs from 1978 through 1983. During the 1979 season, the team was known as the Alexandria Mariners thanks to a short-lived affiliation with the American League’s Seattle Mariners. The Dukes enjoyed their greatest success as a Pittsburgh Pirates farm team from 1981 to 1983, including a Carolina League title in 1982. The team moved away to Woodbridge, Virginia in 1984.

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1987 Prince William Yankees baseball program from the Carolina League

Prince William Yankees

December 27, 2022

The Prince William Yankees were a two-year entry in Minor League Baseball’s Carolina League during the summers of 1987 and 1988. Under the ultimately mistaken belief that the Yankees would pull their affiliation at the close of the 1988 season, the team held a fan contest to rename the team and became the Prince William Cannons in 1989. (The Yanks would stay on as the Cannons’ parent club through 1993).

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Kinston Indians Carolina League Baseball

Kinston Indians

May 18, 2021

Carolina League (1987-2011) Born: 1987 – Re-branded from Kinston Eagles Moved: 2011 (Carolina Mudcats) First Game: April 10, 1987 (W 8-7 @ Lynchburg Mets) Last Game:

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Red Springs Twins

June 29, 2020

The tiny town of Red Springs, North Carolina hosted this Class A farm team of the Minnesota Twins during the summer of 1969. Red Springs (pop. 3,383 in the 1970 Census) was the smallest community in the United States to host its own pro baseball team that summer. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Red Springs lasted just that one season in the Carolina League, earning a place in our One-Year Wonders file.

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Winston-Salem Red Sox Carolina League

Winston-Salem Red Sox

March 2, 2020

Winston-Salem, North Carolina served as a long-time Carolina League outpost of the Boston Red Sox from 1961 until 1984. For all but the last of those seasons, the Winston-Salem club played under the Red Sox name. Future Red Sox stars who developed at Winston-Salem’s Ernie Shore Field included future Hall of Famer Wade Boggs, Dwight Evans, Bill Lee, George Scott, Cecil Cooper, Sparky Lyle and more. The franchise changed its name to the Winston-Salem Spirits in 1984 and parted ways with the Red Sox organization to become a Chicago Cubs affiliate in 1985.

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