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1921 North Carolina State League — News & Notes

Greensboro finally experiences pennant fever; Special hitter beats .400 in Raleigh


Here are some of the other big storylines from 1921:

Genuine excitement in Greensboro:
The Patriots finally seem to have their act together. The G-Men enjoyed their first winning season as a franchise, posting an 82-80 record. The previous best came last year, 81-81.

There is some good young talent on this team, especially 24-year-old shortstop Mike Zimmer (223 hits, .337 average), 1B William Sullivan (.343 average, 83 RBIs) and 2B Joe Herrera (.320 average). Had Herrera not missed two months because of a fractured arm, and had OF Steve Perry (who was leading the team in average) not been knocked out for the season back in July, Greensboro might have made the playoffs. Hope is high for next season indeed. Jerome Edwards (16-9) was the top pitcher.


Super sluggers (but not much else) in Raleigh:
Bill Robbins lit the North Carolina State League up last season. This year, teammate Arturo Martinez from Alaska had the honors. Martinez managed to stay above .400 for the season, finishing at .405. He had an amazing (and record-breaking) 274 hits on the year. The problem was he only drove in 85 runs. What a waste…

Watch out for this kid, though. In just three and a half seasons with Raleigh’s Big Club, Martinez already has 646 hits, including 407 the last two years alone. Get some pitching Capitals and help this guy out! By the way, Robbins batted a tamer .328. Sean Silver, a first baseman, also was solid with 211 hits. The Caps were dead last in all but three pitching categories -- hence why Raleigh fell away off the pace.

Just looking deeper, and Martinez had a league-record 42-game hitting streak!! He had plenty of chances to keep it going against Wilmington on July 23 but went 0-for-7. Martinez started another one right after that game and it lasted 35 games. Wow, this is a special player blooming before our eyes.


Good times for expansion cities.
Both Wilmington and Fayetteville were factors in 1921, only their second year of existence. It’s hard to argue with 83-79 for the Pirates and 80-82 for the Highlanders.

Top players for Wilmington included 2B Andy Smith (191 hits, 18 triples, 91 RBIs), 1B Andy Gross (182 hits, 32 doubles, 20 triples) and pitcher John “Cats” Rocha (16-11 record, 3.43 ERA). Cats was certainly a nice pick-up in year one of the team’s existence.

Fayetteville got solid performances from LF Aiden Arispe (222 hits, .339 average) and pitcher Domingo Lisbey (19 wins, though he had 19 losses too). Arispe has been a true journeyman, playing in Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro and now Fayetteville.


What has happened to Charlotte?
The Hornets scuffled a lot this season. They were near the bottom in most offensive and defensive categories. Their top hitter was Antonio Arevalo (.312 average). Charlotte has become a pretty old team, with all but a handful of starting position players 30 or older.


• There were no no-hitters again this season. Offense seemed to be up, with a lot of guys earning five hits in a game. Charlotte outfielder Anthony Jones had a seven-RBI game against Raleigh, but did it without hitting a home run. He had two bases-clearing triples and a double with a man on. He was 4-for-4 for the game.

Asheville LF John O’Reilly had the best game score among offensive players (91). He was 5-for-6 with five RBIs and four runs scored (one homer) against Raleigh on Aug. 1. The poor, poor Capitals.

• The 1919 Most Outstanding Pitcher, Javier Guerra, retired. He played his entire career in Charlotte, except for part of his first season (Raleigh). His final record was 84-86 with seven saves. He was a 32nd-round draft pick so no one thought too highly of him initially.

Guerra was 4-12, 4-13 and 7-11 before getting his act together and winning 15, 15, 16 and then 14 games the next four years. He was part of both of the Hornets’ championship teams. He retired after going 1-5 this past season and getting demoted to Mooresville. He’s 36 years old.

• Leon Hoffman may have retired from baseball because of age. He’s 43. But he also may have retired because he’s tired of changing addresses. During his career, which started in 1913, Hoffman was moved from Asheville to Greensboro, Greensboro to Durham, Durham to Raleigh, Raleigh back to Asheville and then Asheville back to Raleigh. Good grief, and trading is set on low with this league!

All that baseball only netted Hoffman 353 hits, though he did win one title with Asheville in 1920.

• Interestingly, Greensboro had a winning record (by a few games) against champion Winston-Salem. And Raleigh had a winning record (by a few games) against Durham… Go figure...

OK, on to 1922 -- the 10th year of the North Carolina State League… my how times flies …