Sanford Spinners

The Sanford Spinners took their name from the textile mills that were the economic backbone of Sanford and Lee County, North Carolina, spinning thread and producing cloth through the heart of the Depression and the war years. They played just two seasons in the Bi-State League, but the 1941 championship is the franchise's story: entering the playoffs in fourth place at 58-54, the Spinners beat the Martinsville Manufacturers in a seven-game semifinal and then defeated the Danville-Schoolfield Leafs four games to two to win the title. Dave Odom led the staff that year with 16 wins and 190 strikeouts. The design on this shirt plays on the double meaning buried in the name: a spinning top rendered as a baseball, the classic toy's seam-stitch arcs running around its widest point, the act of spinning tying the textile trade and the game together as one object.

In 1942 the Spinners finished second in the regular season at 62-59 and returned to the championship series, but lost to the Rocky Mount Rocks four games to one. The Bi-State League folded after that season and was not revived, ending Sanford's professional baseball run.

The Bi-State League was a Class D circuit that ran from 1934 through 1942, fielding teams from the tobacco and textile country straddling the Virginia-North Carolina border. The league did not resume after World War II.