Tobacco State League

The Tobacco State League was a Class D American minor baseball league that played for five seasons (1946–1950) in Organized Baseball in the state of North Carolina. It was one of many low-level minor leagues that flourished immediately after World War II before disbanding in the 1950s. Founded as a six-team circuit in 1946, the league sported eight teams for the final four years of its existence, although one of its teams, the charter member Smithfield-Selma Leafs, was forced to drop out during the closing weeks of the TSL's final 1950 season. With the exceptions of Lumberton (Chicago Cubs) and Red Springs (Philadelphia Athletics), its members were unaffiliated with Major League Baseball farm systems.

Member teams

Angier-Fuquay Springs Bulls Clinton Blues/Clinton Sampson Blues Dunn-Irwin Twins Fayetteville Scotties Lumberton Auctioneers Lumberton Cubs Red Springs Red Robins (Champions, 1949)

Rockingham Eagles (Champions, 1950) Sanford Spinners (Champions, 1946-1948) Smithfield-Selma Leafs Warsaw Red Sox Whiteville Tobs Wilmington Pirates

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, N.C.: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
• Holaday, Chris (2016). The Tobacco State League; A North Carolina Baseball History, 1946–1950. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-6670-9.