Winston-Salem Red Birds

Winston-Salem's minor league teams had been known as the Twins since 1905, a reference to the formerly separate towns of Winston and Salem. The team became a St. Louis Cardinals farm club in 1957, taking the name Red Birds, a nod to the parent club's own nickname without using it outright. The Red Birds played four seasons in the Carolina League, from 1957 through 1960, calling Ernie Shore Field home.

The 1958 club went 69-68 under manager Vern Benson and drew over 90,000 fans to Ernie Shore Field. Pitcher Von McDaniel, who as an eighteen-year-old had thrown a shutout in his major league debut for the Cardinals in 1957, spent time with Winston-Salem before a sore arm cut his career short. Outfielder Jim Hickman, another Red Birds alumnus, went on to make the National League All-Star team in 1970.

The franchise dropped the Cardinals affiliation and the Red Birds name in 1961, becoming the Winston-Salem Red Sox for the next 22 years. A young Wade Boggs played there in 1977 on his way to a Hall of Fame career, sixteen years after the Red Birds era ended.