Fayetteville Highlanders

The Highlanders name first appeared in Fayetteville in 1909, and one of its earliest stars was Jim Thorpe, the future Olympic gold medalist and Pro Football Hall of Famer, who played for the team in 1910. Thorpe's stint in minor league baseball would later cost him those Olympic medals, since accepting pay to play violated the amateur rules of the time, though they were posthumously restored in 2022.

The Highlanders name returned in 1953 when the Carolina League's Fayetteville Athletics rebranded, winning the league championship that same year with an 86-51 record while affiliated with the Philadelphia Athletics. The team switched to a Baltimore Orioles affiliation in 1955, then to the Cleveland Indians in 1956, winning a second Carolina League title that year at 78-71. The franchise folded after the 1956 season, and professional baseball did not return to Fayetteville for another thirty years.

Fayetteville's baseball pedigree dates back further still: the city's ballgrounds hosted Babe Ruth's first professional home run in 1914, during a Baltimore Orioles spring training game, and the spot is still marked with a plaque today.