Class
A Advanced baseball minor league based in the
Carolinas and
Virginia. Founded during
World War II as a Class B league; was primarily
North Carolina-based in the
1950s and
1960s, but has actually had as many as four of its 8 teams located in
Virginia in recent years.
The 1988 movie Bull Durham followed the Durham Bulls through a CL season, but the Bulls (or, at least, a team bearing that name) moved up to the AAA International League in 1998. (The CL franchise spent 1998 as the Danville 97s while waiting for a stadium to be built in Myrtle Beach, and now plays as the Myrtle Beach Pelicans.) Kevin Costner's character, Crash Davis, was named after an actual player from the league's early days.
Organized in two divisions, North and South.
Website: http://www.carolinaleague.com
Divisions and teams:
Southern division