Fayetteville Highlanders

Lore & Background

The Fayetteville Highlanders began play in 1909 as members of the Eastern Carolina League, hosting games at Cape Fear Fairgrounds Park on Gillespie Street. The team continued in the Eastern Carolina Association in 1910, where they captured the league championship. That championship team included Jim Thorpe, who would later become an Olympic gold medalist and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee. The Highlanders returned to the Eastern Carolina League in 1911 and later revived as members of the same league from 1928 to 1929, playing at Highland Park Base Ball Grounds, a 300-capacity ballpark located on the Cape Fear River at Grove Street and Cross Creek. The site of Highland Park Base Ball Grounds is now the Cape Fear Botanical Gardens.

Reader's Guide

The Fayetteville Highlanders represent the earliest era of organized minor league baseball in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Their 1910 championship team is historically significant for featuring Jim Thorpe, one of the most versatile athletes of the 20th century. The Highlanders' tenure helped establish a baseball tradition in the city that continued through later teams such as the Fayetteville Cubs, Athletics, and Hilanders, and eventually the modern Fayetteville Woodpeckers. The ballparks used by the Highlanders—Cape Fear Fairgrounds Park and Highland Park Base Ball Grounds—are notable for their historical connections: the former is marked as the site of Babe Ruth's first professional home run in a 1914 spring training game, and the latter now hosts the Cape Fear Botanical Gardens. The Highlanders' legacy is preserved in local baseball history as the first minor league team in Fayetteville.

Did You Know?

• Jim Thorpe, Olympic champion and Pro Football Hall of Fame member, played for the 1910 Fayetteville Highlanders.
• The Highlanders won the 1910 Eastern Carolina Association Championship.
• The team played at Cape Fear Fairgrounds Park in 1909 and 1911, and at Highland Park Base Ball Grounds in 1928 and 1929.
• Highland Park Base Ball Grounds had a capacity of 300 and was located on the Cape Fear River; the site is now the Cape Fear Botanical Gardens.