Fayetteville's Gabe Kapler at bat during a game against Greenville on April 8, 1996. [Jared Lazarus/The Fayetteville Observer]

From Fayetteville to 'The Show'

A look back at players who came through our city and made it to the big leagues

Gabe Kapler: Fayetteville ‘was a turning point in my playing career’

Gabe Kapler knew from the sound that he’d made solid contact with the baseball when playing in Fayetteville’s J.P. Riddle Stadium in 1996.

It wasn’t the crack of the bat for the 20-year-old outfielder wearing the Fayetteville Generals jersey. Rather, it was the resounding “thump″ when the ball hit the plywood sponsorship signs that ringed the outfield fence at Riddle.

“I remember the wooden wall ... it was two levels of signs,” Kapler said. “When the ball bounced off that wall, it made this loud sound in batting practice and in games that gave really good feedback on the way you hit the baseball.”

Now 43, Kapler is in his second season as manager of the Philadelphia Phillies. But before trading in his cleats for a career in coaching, Kapler spent 12 productive years as a major league player with the Detroit Tigers, Texas Rangers, Colorado Rockies, Boston Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays.

Playing with Boston in 2004, Kapler appeared in a career-high 136 games in helping the Red Sox claim the World Series title. He was on the field for the final out that delivered Boston’s first world championship in 86 years.

But in the spring of 1996, he was in Fayetteville. CLICK TO READ FULL STORY.

Shawn Wooten at bat during a Generals game Aug. 10, 1994. [The Fayetteville Observer]

Shawn Wooten: Fayetteville ‘had its own personality’

Shawn Wooten was nearing the end of a successful rookie season in professional baseball at Bristol, Virginia, late in the summer of 1993 when he was called into manager Ruben Amaro’s office.

“Pack your bags. You’re going to Fayetteville,” Amaro told Wooten, who had been one of the Appalachian League’s top hitters since being selected in the 18th round of the June amateur draft by the Detroit Tigers. The 20-year-old infielder was batting a robust .350 in 52 games for Bristol when the Tigers decided to promote him for a late-season test at the next level in their minor league system.

Wooten immediately went searching for a road map. The California native had spent very little time outside the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains east of Los Angeles.

He had no idea where Fayetteville was.

“Zero. No idea whatsoever,” Wooten said. “You couldn’t just turn on your phone and find directions to a city back then. But I remember pulling into town and thinking, ‘This is a little different than what I’m used to.’ It was definitely an upgrade from Bristol, because it had a Hooters and things like that. It had its own personality."  CLICK TO READ FULL STORY

Fayetteville teammates watch as Frank Catalanotto squeezes a pop fly during a game against Spartanburg on April 19, 1994. [Staff/The Fayetteville Observer]

Fayetteville season put Catalanotto ‘on the map’

Frank Catalanotto was still trying to establish himself as a legitimate major league prospect when he arrived in Fayetteville in April 1994.

A 10th-round pick in the 1992 amateur draft out of Smithtown East High on Long Island, New York, the left-handed-hitting second baseman had experienced some success at Bristol, Virginia, in the rookie Appalachian League in his first two professional seasons. But now Catalanotto was making the jump to the full-season Class A level.

“My first year in Bristol I had struggled, then in 1993 I had a pretty good year,” Catalanotto said. “In talking to the coaches during spring training, they said the key is to just try and get better every year. So, I was looking to take that next step and prove myself as a prospect.” CLICK TO READ FULL STORY.

Fayetteville Generals' Phil Clark gives a teammate a high five during a game against Spartanburg on April 14, 1987. [Staff/The Fayetteville Observer]

Phil Clark: ‘My Fayetteville year was one of my best and funnest’

Phil Clark was less than a year removed from high school in the historic East Texas town of Crockett when he arrived in Fayetteville during the spring of 1987.

Crockett, named for the legendary frontiersman who reportedly camped nearby on the way to his demise at the Alamo, has about 6,950 residents, including the Clark family that would produce three professional baseball players in brothers Phil, Jerald and Isaiah.

The youngest and the most highly regarded, Phil Clark was the 18th overall pick in the 1986 amateur baseball draft by the Detroit Tigers directly out of Crockett High School. After signing with the Tigers and making his professional debut in Bristol, Virginia, the 19-year-old was excited to be assigned to the Class A South Atlantic League’s Fayetteville Generals to start the ’87 season. CLICK TO READ FULL STORY

Fayetteville's Rusty Meacham winds up a pitch during a game on April 23, 1989. [Chris English/The Fayetteville Observer]

Rusty Meacham: Failure in Fayetteville was 'best thing that ever happened'

Rusty Meacham was traveling north on Interstate 95 on a road trip a few years ago and decided to pull off at the Fayetteville exit for a step back in time.

Meacham eventually found himself sitting in the parking lot of J.P. Riddle Stadium, where a wrong turn in his professional baseball career proved to be a step in the right direction.

“I just pulled into the parking lot and kind of reminisced about my time there. It was pretty cool, man,″ said Meacham, now 51 and living in his hometown of Stuart, Florida.

But in the spring of 1988, Meacham was a tall, lanky 20-year-old pitcher whom the Detroit Tigers had selected in the 33rd round of the ’87 amateur draft out of Indian River Community College in Florida. Unlike most first-year players who make their first stop in the minors with a rookie or short-season affiliate, Meacham was surprisingly assigned to Detroit’s Class A South Atlantic League team, the Fayetteville Generals, for his professional debut. CLICK TO READ FULL STORY.

Cape Fear Crocs' Andrew Tracy during a game against Hagerstown on May 6, 1997. [Marcus Castro/The Fayetteville Observer]

Andy Tracy: One of first Crocs to go the distance

Minor league baseball in Fayetteville had undergone a major facelift when Andy Tracy headed North on Interstate 95 from spring training in West Palm Beach, Florida, in early April 1997.

The Detroit Tigers had ended a 10-year partnership with Fayetteville after the 1996 season as home for its Class A South Atlantic League affiliate, citing a desire to have its young prospects playing in closer proximity to the major league city. The decision marked the end, by name at least, of the Fayetteville Generals.

The local ownership quickly signed a player development contract with the Montreal Expos and began searching for a new nickname to celebrate the new association. The Cape Fear Crocs were born from that process and set for their debut when the 23-year-old Tracy arrived to start his second season of professional baseball.

“We knew it was a new affiliate, and a new name,’’ Tracy said. “But because Montreal had never been there before we didn’t know anything about the stadium, the city or the housing. We were coming in blind.’’ CLICK TO READ FULL STORY.

Fayetteville Generals Daryle Ward walks back to the dugout during a game on May 5, 1995. [Staff Photo/The Fayetteville Observer]

Ward's '95 season was among Fayetteville's finest

Daryle Ward probably isn’t mentioned along with Babe Ruth, Calvin Koonce or even “Moonlight’’ Graham in conversations about Fayetteville’s professional baseball history. But what Ward achieved here in 1995 had never been done before on the local level, and isn’t likely to be duplicated in the near future.

As a 20-year-old first baseman for the Class A South Atlantic League Fayetteville Generals, Ward drove home 106 runs in a single season, the highest recorded total in the city’s minor league history that dates back to early 1900s. The final tally, which Ward achieved in 137 games, ranked him tied for fifth that season in all levels of minor league baseball.

“I didn’t want to just be known as a home run hitter,’’ Ward said. “I wanted to be consistent hitting the ball. That season gave me confidence that I could be an RBI guy, a guy my team could count on to drive in runs.’’

Propelled by his performance in Fayetteville, Ward would advance to the major leagues in 1998, where he’d appear in 948 games over the next 11 seasons. CLICK TO READ FULL STORY.

Major leaguers with ties to Fayetteville

From the earliest days of the city's minor league entities that date to 1909, to today's collegiate all-stars performing with the Fayetteville SwampDogs, Fayetteville has long been a place to catch a glimpse of future big leaguers in action.