This article is part of a series of top North Carolina athletes and teams. As North Carolina sports betting gets set to launch in March, take a look at the top athletes across North Carolina college and professional sports.
The state of North Carolina has a rich history in sports like basketball and football but what about America’s pastime? Who are the best MLB players of all time born in North Carolina? Let’s take a look at the 10 best NC-born and raised MLB players.
10. Jim Perry – SP
Born: Williamston, NC
High School: Williamston
MLB Career: 1957-75
Jim Perry was a 3-time All-Star and won the 1970 Cy Young in a career that spanned 17 seasons with the Twins, Indians, Athletics, and Tigers. In his Cy Young season, Perry went 24-12 for the Twins while starting a league-leading 40 games.
Perry had double-digit wins 11 times and finished with 215 career wins and an ERA of 3.45. The bulk of his work was done with the Minnesota Twins as he won 128 games in 10 years during the middle of his career. Take a look at Perry’s career stats.
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9. Rick Ferrell – C
Born: Durham, NC
High School: Guilford
MLB Career: 1929-45, 1947
Rick Ferrell played for 18 seasons and caught 1,546 games behind the plate for the St. Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox, and Washington Nationals. He finally got his Hall of Fame nod from the Veteran’s Committee in 1984.
Ferrell was an 8-time All-Star with 1,692 career hits, 324 doubles, and an impressive 931 to 277 walk-to-strikeout ratio. He hit .281 with an on-base percentage of .378. His best season came in 1936 when he had a career-high .867 OPS after hitting .312 with 27 doubles, 55 RBI, and 65 walks.
A solid contact hitter, Ferrell struck out 20+ times just 4 times in his entire career. Take a look at Ferrell’s career stats.
Read More: Best athletes born and raised in NC
8. Corey Seager – SS
Born: Charlotte, NC
High School: Northwest Cabarrus
MLB Career: 2015-Present
Corey Seager will continue to slide up this list in the years to come as his list of accolades is already quite impressive. He is a 2-time World Series Champion and won the MVP in both of those series. Seager also has a Rookie of the Year Award, 4 All-Star nods, and 3 Silver Slugger Awards.
Seager has a career OPS of .873 and is a .292 hitter. His 162-game averages are solid with 182 hits, 30 homers, 97 RBI, and 41 doubles. He led the league in doubles in 2019 and 2023. His best might still be to come as Seager his .327 with 33 homers and 42 doubles with an OPS of 1.013 during his 2023 run to help the Rangers win the World Series.
The question of how great he can be might come down to injuries. Seager has only played in four full seasons since his debut back in 2015. See Seager’s career stats.
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7. Josh Hamilton – OF
Born: Raleigh, NC
High School: Athens Drive
MLB Career: 2007-15
Josh Hamilton will always be the story of what could have been. He was the 1st overall pick in the 1999 draft and on his way to MLB stardom before bad decisions off the field ruined his shot at the big leagues. Then, he got his life together and played in his first MLB game in 2007 for the Reds.
Hamilton’s run was short but he hit .290 in 9 seasons with the Reds, Rangers, and Angles. He hit 200 homers and finished with a career OPS of .865.
Short career or not, I don’t know if any player on this list had as strong of a 5-year stretch as Hamilton. From 2008-12 he hit .305 with an OPS of .912 while averaging 36 homers and 126 RBI per 162 games. This stretch included 5 All-Star appearances along with an MVP and batting title in 2010. And by the way, he was an ALCS MVP too.
In the 3 years after 2012, Hamilton played over 100 games just one time before off-the-field issues troubled him again. If he had just stuck to baseball, Hamilton very well could have made the Hall of Fame. Check out Hamilton’s career stats.
6. Madison Bumgarner – SP
Born: Hickory, NC
High School: South Caldwell
MLB Career: 2009-23
Madison Bumgarner lands on this list thanks to being dominant during 3 World Series Championship runs with the San Francisco Giants. Bumgarner has a World Series MVP, 4 All-Star nods, and won 2 Silver Sluggers as he showed he has some power at the plate.
Bumgarner has 134 career wins with an ERA of 3.47 and has proved to be incredibly durable throughout his career. He started 358 games including 30+ starts in 8 seasons. He led the league in 2016 with 34 starts and rocked a 2.74 ERA that year.
In the World Series, Bumgarner is 4-0 with a 0.25 ERA and a WHIP of 0.528. He gave up just 1 run in 36 innings in the WS and gave up just 14 hits. In the biggest moments, Bumgarner was unhittable. In the playoffs overall, Bumgarner was 8-3 with a 2.11 ERA and a WHIP of 0.899. See Bumgarner’s career stats.
5. Hoyt Wilhelm – RP
Born: Huntersville, NC
High School: Cornelius
MLB Career: 1952-72
Hoyt Wilhelm’s Hall of Fame career spanned 21 years with just about every team in the league. He played for the White Sox, Giants, Orioles, Braves, Dodgers, Indians, Cardinals, Cubs, and Angels. He appeared in 1,018 games as a reliever and also started 52 games in his career.
Hoyt won 2 ERA titles, made 8 All-Star teams, and was a World Series Champion in 1954. As a rookie, he was 15-3 with a 2.43 ERA with a league-leading 71 appearances. He proved he could do it as a starter too as he went 15-11 with a 2.19 ERA in 27 starts in 1959.
Hoyt had 228 career saves and an impressive 2.52 ERA. He appeared in 60+ games 6 times and had an ERA under 2.00 in 6 seasons. Check out Wilhelm’s career stats.
4. Buck Leonard – 1B
Born: Rocky Mount, NC
High School: None (No Black HS in Rocky Mount)
Negro League Career: 1935-1948
I said this was the best MLB players from NC, but I can’t call myself a lover of baseball without including Buck Leonard who was an incredible talent in the Negro League. He would have been an MLB great if he were allowed to play in the big leagues and most likely at the top of this list. His career spanned 14 years with the Homestead Grays and he was a 13-time All-Star.
Leonard also won 2 batting titles and 3 World Series Championships. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1972 by the Negro League Committee.
Leonard’s numbers are eye-popping as he hit .346 in his career with an on-base percentage of .453 and slugged .593. This adds up to a career OPS of a ridiculous 1.046. The man could flat-out hit as he was a .300+ hitter in 12 of his 14 years including a career-high .420 batting average in 1938.
Leonard had an OPS of over 1.000 eight times in his spectacular career. See Leonard’s career stats.
3. Catfish Hunter – SP
Born: Hertford, NC
High School: Perquimans
MLB Career: 1965-79
Catfish Hunter won 224 games, 5 World Series Championships, and reached the MLB Hall of Fame in 1987. Hunter spent 10 years with the Oakland A’s before spending 5 seasons with the New York Yankees.
From 1972-1976, Hunter made every All-Star team and had 107 wins with a 2.77 ERA. He also won a Cy Young and finished in the top-5 in three other seasons during that stretch. Hunter was a major part of the Oakland three-peat from 1972-74. He had a league-leading 25 wins in 1974.
Hunter was 20+ games 5 times in his career and had an ERA under 3.00 five times. He was 9-6 in the playoffs in his career including 5-3 in the World Series with a 3.29 ERA.
Overall, Hunter was a workhorse with 476 career starts and over 3,400 innings pitched. Check out Hunter’s stats.
2. Enos Slaughter – RF
Born: Durham, NC
High School: Roxboro
MLB Career: 1938-42, 1946-59
Enos Slaughter was not only a 10-time All-Star and Hall of Famer but he also served in the United States Military during World War II which put a pause on his MLB career. Also, Slaughter was part of 4 World Series Championship teams.
A .300 career hitter, Slaughter finished with 2,383 hits, 413 doubles, 148 triples, 169 homers, and 1,304 RBI. He walked 1,018 times to just 538 strikeouts while hitting at least .300 in 10 of his 19 seasons. Slaughter hit a career-best .336 in 1949 with the Cardinals while leading the league with 13 triples.
A year before having to put baseball on hold for the military, Slaughter hit .318 and led the league with 188 hits, 17 triples, and 292 total bases. He finished second in the MVP voting that season and had two other top-5 finishes in his great career.
Slaughter had 10+ triples in 7 seasons and is in the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame, the MLB Hall of Fame, and has his number retired in St. Louis. Check out Slaughter’s career stats.
1. Gaylord Perry – SP
Born: Williamston, NC
High School: Williamston
MLB Career: 1962-83
Gaylord Perry tops the list of MLB players born in North Carolina as he won 2 Cy Young Awards, 314 career games, and is in the MLB Hall of Fame. Perry also made 5 All-Star teams in a career in which he started 690 games and had 3,534 strikeouts (8th all-time).
Perry played for 22 seasons and 10 of those came with the San Francisco Giants where he won 134 games. He won at least 20 games 5 times and had 13 seasons of at least 15 wins. His best season came in 1972 for Cleveland when he won 24 games with a 1.92 ERA and he threw 29 complete games while winning the Cy Young.
He was dominant again in the 1978 season when he won the Cy Young after going 21-6 with a 2.73 ERA and starting 37 games. Perry’s 314 wins sit him at number 17 all-time and he is 6th all-time in innings pitched with 5,350 innings.
Perry led the league in wins 3 times and threw a no-hitter on September 17, 1968, Check out Perry’s career stats.
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