The Mount Airy Graniteers were a minor league baseball Class D team that represented the city of

Mount Airy, North Carolina Mount Airy is a city in Surry County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 10,611. History Mount Airy was settled in the 1750s as a stagecoach stop on the road between Winston-Salem, North Carolina an ...

. The team played under two different names in two leagues over their 13 non-consecutive seasons spanning 1934–1950. The club joined the Bi-State League for the 1934 season. In 1935, the Graniteers changed its name to the Mount Airy Reds and continued to operate in the league through 1937. During that span, Mount Airy had affiliation agreements with the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

(1935–1936) and the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

(1937). Then, the team changed its name again to Mount Airy Graniteers and played uninterrupted until the 1941 season. After that, the city was without a professional club for the next four years.Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball In 1946, the Graniteers resurrected in a new circuit, the Blue Ridge League (1946–1950), playing there uninterrupted until the 1950 season. One of their most popular players was

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

Gene Handley Eugene Louis Handley (November 25, 1914 – April 12, 2009) was an American professional baseball player and scout. Born in Kennett, Missouri, he was a versatile player during his pro career (1935–1942; 1944–1954) who spent two seasons in Major ...

, who won a batting crown title with a .403 batting average in 1936. Other major contribution came from

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Bob Bowman, who posted a 30-11 record and a 2.91

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Compa ...

from 1946–48, including a 17-4 mark with a 3.29 ERA and 197.0

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

in 1947.1947 Blue Ridge League pitching leaders
/ref> In its storied 13-year history, surviving the ups and downs during wartime and postwar times, the team won championship titles in 1948 and 1950, while reaching the postseason in 1940, 1947 and 1949. Since 1950, no other team based in Mount Airy has participated in professional baseball.

Season-by-season

MLB alumni

* Bob Bowman *

Pat Cooper Pat Cooper (born Pasquale Caputo; July 31, 1929) is an American actor and comedian. Life and career His father Michael Caputo was a bricklayer from Mola di Bari, Italy and his mother, Louise Gargiulo was born in Brooklyn, New York, where Cooper ...

* Jess Cortazzo *

Woody Crowson Thomas Woodrow Crowson (September 9, 1918 – August 14, 1947) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He played for the Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia fro ...

Chubby Dean Alfred Lovell Dean (August 24, 1915 – December 21, 1970) was a Major League Baseball pitcher and first baseman. He played for the Philadelphia Athletics from 1936 to 1941 and the Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American prof ...

Vance Dinges Vance George Dinges (May 29, 1915 – October 4, 1990) was an American professional baseball player. He appeared in 159 Major League games as a first baseman and outfielder for the 1945 and 1946 Philadelphia Phillies. The native of Elizabeth ...

Bill Donovan William Edward Donovan (October 13, 1876 – December 9, 1923), nicknamed "Wild Bill" and "Smiling Bill", was an American right-handed baseball pitcher and manager. Donovan played Major League Baseball for the Washington Senators (1898), Broo ...

Joe Gantenbein Joseph Steven Gantenbein (August 25, 1915 – April 20, 1993) was an American Major League Baseball infielder in Major League Baseball who played from 1939 to 1940 for the Philadelphia Athletics. Listed at 5' 9", 168 lb., Gantenbein batted and ...

Frank Kalin Frank Bruno Kalin Fats"(October 3, 1917 – January 12, 1975) was a Major League Baseball outfielder. Kalin played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in and the Chicago White Sox in . In 7 career games, he had no hits in 7 at-bats. He batted and threw ...

Ernie Kish Ernest Alexander Kish (February 6, 1918 – December 21, 1993) was an American professional baseball outfielder who played for the 1945 Philadelphia Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB). Listed at and , he batted left-handed and threw right ...

Ray Kolp Raymond Carl Kolp (October 1, 1894 – July 29, 1967) was a professional baseball pitcher. Kolp played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball between 1921 and 1934, playing in 1921-24 for the St. Louis Browns and 1927-34 for the Cincinnati Reds. Ca ...

Guy Lacy Osceola Guy Lacy (June 12, 1897 in Cleveland, Tennessee – November 19, 1953) was a second baseman in Major League Baseball. He played for the 1926 Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based i ...

Whitey Moore Lloyd Albert Moore (June 10, 1912 – December 10, 1987), was a Major League Baseball player who was a right-handed pitcher from 1936 to 1942. He played for the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds. He stood tall and weighed . Early life Moo ...

Ray Shore Raymond Everett Shore (June 9, 1921 – August 13, 1996), nicknamed "Snacks", was an American pitcher, coach and scout in Major League Baseball. A native of Cincinnati, Shore threw and batted right-handed, stood (191 cm) tall and weighed 230 ...

* Walt Stephenson

Sources

{{Reflist 1934 establishments in North Carolina 1950 disestablishments in North Carolina Professional baseball teams in North Carolina Defunct minor league baseball teams Cincinnati Reds minor league affiliates Pittsburgh Pirates minor league affiliates Baseball teams established in 1934 Baseball teams disestablished in 1950 Surry County, North Carolina Defunct baseball teams in North Carolina Bi-State League teams

Season-by-season

MLB alumni

See also

Sources