Ranking the top 10 MLB players from the state of North Carolina
10. Smoky Burgess, C (Caroleen)
Burgess played 18 seasons of professional baseball with five organizations. He was selected to nine All-Star teams and garnered MVP votes in 1960, the same season he won his lone World Series title with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Burgess finished his career with a .295 batting average, 1,318 hits and 673 RBIs. He sits fourth all-time with 145 career pinch hits.
“You could wake Smoky Burgess up at 3 a.m. on Christmas morning, with two inches of snow on the ground, throw him a curveball, and he’d hit a line drive.”
Joe Garagiola
Smoky was occasionally described as "a walking laundry bag” & “barely fit enough to play for the Moose Lodge… pic.twitter.com/gQS0SzlU7u— Jim Koenigsberger (@Jimfrombaseball) May 11, 2024
