Kinston Eagles (Coastal Plain League)
# Kinston Eagles (Coastal Plain League)

The Kinston Eagles were a Minor League Baseball team of the Coastal Plain League. They were located in Kinston, North Carolina. The team played its home games at Grainger Stadium, which opened in 1949 and holds 4,100 fans. Prior to that they played in Grainger Park.

The Eagles won the CPL Championship in 1947 as an affiliate of the Atlanta Crackers.

## History

### Coastal Plain League

The Great Depression took a great toll on the minor leagues, with only thirteen teams operating across the U.S. at a 1933 low point. Like most, Kinston sat out the first few years of the Great Depression but reentered play for the 1934 season in the semi-professional Coastal Plain League. By 1937 the circuit had become a fully professional, Class D league as ranked by the National Association. The city remained in the Coastal Plain League continuously until it was disbanded after 1952. As a member of this affiliation, Kinston saw many playoff appearances and won league championships in 1935 and 1947. Among the superior talent during this period was a young player named Charlie "King Kong" Keller who is listed as among the top forty major league players of all-time in terms of on-base percentage (.410).

## Grainger Stadium

From 1949 on, the Kinston Eagles played their home games at Grainger Stadium located at 400 East Grainger Avenue in Kinston. The original structure was built by architect John J. Rowland in 1949 at a cost of $170,000 inclusive of everything except the land. $150,000 of the money was raised by bond issue. A dedicatory plaque identifies the structure as "Municipal Stadium", but it has been called Grainger Stadium since it was first built.

## Season by season results

| Year | Name | League | Level | Affiliation | Record | Manager | Playoffs |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1934 | Eagles | Coastal Plain | semipro | | 36–24 | Bunn Hearn | Lost League Finals |
| 1935 | Eagles | Coastal Plain | semipro | | 41–26 | Bunn Hearn | League Champs |
| 1936 | Eagles | Coastal Plain | semipro | | 40–32 | Herschel Caldwell | Lost League Finals |
| 1937 | Eagles | Coastal Plain | D | St. Louis Cardinals | 32–65 | Bess/Taylor | |
| 1938 | Eagles | Coastal Plain | D | St. Louis Cardinals | 60–50 | Tommy West | Lost in 1st round |
| 1939 | Eagles | Coastal Plain | D | St. Louis Cardinals | 65–59 | Henry/Lucas/Herring | Lost League Finals |
| 1940 | Eagles | Coastal Plain | D | | 63–60 | Sothern/Aerette | Lost League Finals |
| 1941 | Eagles | Coastal Plain | D | | 42–77 | McHenry/DeMasi | |
| 1946 | Eagles | Coastal Plain | D | | 67–56 | Frank Rodgers | Lost League Finals |
| 1947 | Eagles | Coastal Plain | D | Atlanta Crackers | 74–65 | Steve Collins | League Champs |
| 1948 | Eagles | Coastal Plain | D | | 80–59 | Steve Collins | Lost League Finals |
| 1949 | Eagles | Coastal Plain | D | | 74–64 | Steve Collins | Lost League Finals |
| 1950 | Eagles | Coastal Plain | D | Boston Red Sox | 70–68 | Wally Millies | Lost League Finals |
| 1951 | Eagles | Coastal Plain | D | | 79–47 | Wes Livengood | Lost in 1st round |
| 1952 | Eagles | Coastal Plain | D | Detroit Tigers | 76–47 | Wayne Blackburn | Lost in 1st round |

TABLE NOTES:

* The record for the 1938 team above were the actual wins and losses for that team. An ineligible player scandal caused the league office to award or take away wins and losses from teams based on their violations of the rules. The "official" adjusted record at the end of the season was 64–45.

## No Hitters

* Eddie Nowak (7/31/1939) vs the New Bern Bears

### League histories

* Gaunt, Robert (1997). We Would Have Played Forever: The Story of the Coastal Plain Baseball League. Baseball America, Inc. ISBN 0-945164-02-5.
* Holaday, J. Chris (1998). Professional Baseball in North Carolina: An Illustrated City-by-City History, 1901–1996. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0532-5.
* Lloyd, Johnson; Miles Wolff, eds. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, third ed. Baseball America, Inc. ISBN 978-1-932391-17-6.

### Newspapers

* "The Kinston Daily Free Press". 1882–2011. – Issues for all seasons are available on microfilm at Lenoir Community College.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Voigt, David Quentin (1995). Baseball: An Illustrated History. Penn State Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-271-01448-7.
* ↑ Johnson, Lloyd; Miles Wolff (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, second ed. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, Inc. p. 295. ISBN 0-9637189-8-3.
* ↑ Gaunt, Robert (1997). We Would Have Played Forever: The Story of the Coastal Plain Baseball League. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, Inc. ISBN 0-945164-02-5.
* ↑ Baseball-Reference.com. "Charlie Keller Statistics". Retrieved 2010-12-18.
* ↑ Mock, Jr., Frank L. (June 1950). "Kinston's New Stadium". Athletic Journal. XXX (10): 14.
* ↑ Rowland, John J.; Simpson, James M. (July 1949). "Stadium for All Municipal Functions, Kinston, N. C.". Architectural Record. 106 (1): 121–123.
* ↑ Gaunt, Robert H. (1997). We Would Have Played Forever: The Story of the Coastal Plain Baseball League. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, Inc. p. 97. ISBN 0-9637189-8-3.
