Charlotte Mecklenburg Library

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Bibliography

Ballew, Bill. Baseball in Asheville. Charleston, SC : Arcadia, 2004.

Carolina 1994 Baseball [microform]. (Chapel Hill, N.C. : University of North Carolina Press), 1994.       

Browning, Wilt. The Rocks: the True Story of the Worst Team in Baseball History. (Asheboro, N.C. : Down Home Press), 1992.       

Gaunt, Robert H. We Would Have Played Forever: The History of the Coastal Baseball League. (Durham: Baseball America), 1997.       

Winning By Any Means Necessary

Outlaw behavior was common among owners, team management, and players before and during the time of the ICBL.  Fights were not uncommon among the players or the fans if an umpire made an unpopular call. Managers, on the behalf of the owners, made financial offers to out-of-work players that were impossible to refuse, contract or not.

Before There Were Outlaws

The roots of the Independent Carolina Baseball League (ICBL), nicknamed the Outlaw League began in the Carolina Textile League. Various textile owners supported local baseball teams. The local clubs served as training grounds for unemployed, professional baseball players, and college baseball stars who all hoped to be noticed by scouts for the major ball clubs. Assured of a mill job in the off-season, the Textile League attracted players from all over the country.

Becoming Outlaws

 

During the Great Depression, baseball thrived in small textile mills throughout North Carolina. Each mill had its own team. In 1935, a number of mill owners saw an opportunity to promote the town's favorite pastime as well as the possibility of making money in hard times. The owners formed the Independent Carolina Baseball League, hereafter known as ICBL, in 1935.