Tarboro Tars

Tarboro Tars was the primary name of a minor league baseball team based in Tarboro, North Carolina. The team competed in the Coastal Plain League from 1937 to 1941 and from 1946 to 1952. The team used several other nicknames during its history, and had brief affiliations with the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Athletics of Major League Baseball.

Tarboro Tars
(1937–1941, 1946–1952) Tarboro, North Carolina
Minor league affiliations
Class	Class D
League	Coastal Plain League
Major league affiliations
Team	Philadelphia Athletics (1950–1951) Boston Red Sox (1946)
Minor league titles
League titles	1940, 1948
Team data
Name	Tarboro Tars (1940, 1946–1948, 1950, 1952) Tarboro A's (1951) Tarboro Athletics (1949) Tarboro Orioles (1941) Tarboro Serpents / Goobers (1939) Tarboro Serpents (1938) Tarboro Combs (1937)
Ballpark	Municipal Park (1946–1952)[1] Bryan Park (1937–1941)[2]

In the team's 12 seasons of play, it qualified for the postseason five times, advanced to the league championship series three times (1937, 1940, and 1948), and won the championship twice (1940 and 1948).^[3][4]

Tarboro had previously fielded minor league teams in 1900 and 1901,^[5]: 94 and for part of the 1921 season when the Petersburg Goobers relocated to Tarboro from Petersburg, Virginia, in early August.^[5]: 281

Notable players

Several players with Tarboro also made appearances in Major League Baseball:

1937:[6] Soup Campbell, Snake Henry 1938:[7] Campbell, Henry, Buster Maynard 1939:[8] Bob Allen, Bill Donovan 1940:[9] Hank Schenz, Bill Steinecke 1941:[10] Bob Hooper, Ray Murray, Frankie Zak 1946:[11] —

1947:[12] Otey Clark 1948:[13] Jake Daniel 1949:[14] Joe Antolick, Bob Zick 1950:[15] Antolick, Zick 1951:[16] Eric Mackenzie, Joe Rullo 1952:[17] —

Results by season

Season	Nickname†	Affiliation	Record (win %)	Finish	Manager	Playoffs (games)	Attendance	Ref.
1937	Combs	—	53–42 (.558)	3rd of 8	Snake Henry	defeated Williamston Martins (3–0) lost to Snow Hill Hill Billies (1–4)	unknown	[5]: 352
1938	Serpents	—	60–47 (.561)	2nd of 8	Snake Henry	lost to Snow Hill Hill Billies (2–4)	unknown	[5]: 359
1939	Serpents / Goobers	—	34–90 (.274)	8th of 8	Guy Shatzer Fred Neisler Larry Merville	—	unknown	[5]: 366
1940	Tars	—	72–51 (.585)	2nd of 8	Arthur "Cowboy" McHenry Bill Steinecke Wes Ratteree	defeated Goldsboro Goldbugs (4–1) defeated Kinston Eagles (4–2)	unknown	[5]: 373
1941	Orioles	—	44–72 (.379)	7th of 8	Thomas "Poke" Whalen	—	unknown	[5]: 381
1942–1945		Coastal Plain League did not operate during World War II					—
1946	Tars	Boston Red Sox	61–65 (.484)	5th of 8	Michael Kardish F. L. "Bull" Hamons	—	46,679	[18][5]: 405
1947	Tars	—	74–66 (.529)	3rd of 8	F. L. "Bull" Hamons	lost to Kinston Eagles (2–4)	75,281	[5]: 413
1948	Tars	—	87–53 (.621)	1st of 8	F. L. "Bull" Hamons	defeated Rocky Mount Leafs (4–2) defeated Kinston Eagles (4–1)	67,767	[5]: 422
1949	Athletics	—	68–68 (.500)	6th of 8	Joe Antolick	—	41,212	[5]: 432
1950	Tars	Philadelphia Athletics	67–71 (.486)	7th of 8	Joe Antolick	—	36,467	[5]: 443
1951	A's	Philadelphia Athletics	13–22 (.371)	‡	Joe Rullo	—	6,431	[5]: 453
1952	Tars	—	49–71 (.408)	7th of 8	Bill Long	—	28,439	[5]: 463

† Other sources list the team's 1937 nickname as Serpents,^[6] 1940 nickname as Cubs,^[9] and A's during 1948–1951.^{[13][14][15][16]}
‡ In 1951, Tarboro and the Greenville Robins withdrew from the league in early June.^[19]

References

1. "Municipal Park (Field) in Tarboro, NC". StatsCrew.com. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
2. "Bryan Park in Tarboro, NC". StatsCrew.com. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
3. "Tarboro Annexes Coastal's Finals". The News & Observer. Raleigh, North Carolina. September 15, 1940. p. 14. Retrieved February 25, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
4. "Standings". The Charlotte Observer. Charlotte, North Carolina. September 22, 1948. p. 22. Retrieved February 25, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
5. Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (Third ed.). Baseball America. ISBN 978-1932391176.
6. "1937 Tarboro Serpents Statistics".
7. "1938 Tarboro Serpents Statistics".
8. "1939 Tarboro Serpents/Goobers Statistics".
9. "1940 Tarboro Cubs Statistics".
10. "1941 Tarboro Orioles Statistics".
11. "1946 Tarboro Tars Statistics".
12. "1947 Tarboro Tars Statistics".
13. "1948 Tarboro A's Statistics".
14. "1949 Tarboro A's Statistics".
15. "1950 Tarboro A's Statistics".
16. "1951 Tarboro A's Statistics".
17. "1952 Tarboro Tars Statistics".
18. "1946 Coastal Plain League". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
19. "League Drops Robins & A's". The News & Observer. Raleigh, North Carolina. June 8, 1951. p. 19. Retrieved February 25, 2021 – via newspapers.com.