CityView Magazine

34 May 2021 Fayetteville's History as a Hub of Baseball Talent BY CL AY TON TRUTOR FEATURE "We just don't recognize life's most significant moments while they're happening," Archibald "Moonlight" Graham tells Ray Kinsella as they discuss Graham's one-inning, no at-bat Major League Baseball career in the 1989 film version of "Field of Dreams." Graham, as played by Burt Lancaster, tells Kinsella, as played by Kevin Costner, about standing on deck, waiting to bat for the first time in the big leagues when the final out of the game was recorded. In the film version, Graham's lone major league appearance takes place in 1922. In real life, the Fayetteville born-and-bred Graham made his only major league appearance on June 29, 1905 as a replacement right fielder for the New York Giants. "Field of Dreams," based on W.P. Kinsella's 1982 novel "Shoeless Joe," made Fayetteville's own "Moonlight" a household name. The ballplayer-turned-small-town doctor Graham, as depicted by Lancaster, stole the show in the emotional baseball fantasy film. It turns out that Graham's Major League moment was far from the only one to arise from Fayetteville and its immediate environs. Many towns and cities across America have a few big league ballplayers they can call their own. Conversely, the Greater Fayetteville area has nearly two dozen Major Leaguers who were either born, raised or resided here. I've put together my "More than Just 'Moonlight'" Fayetteville All- Time All-Star Team – a starting nine plus a small pitching rotation of baseball greats that demonstrates the city's long history as a hub of baseball talent. Fayetteville's boys of summer, both past and present, comprise a group that includes several World Series champions, All-Stars, a postseason MVP, and even a Triple Crown winner. MORE THAN JUST " Moonlight " MORE THAN JUST " Moonlight " PHOTO COURTESY WIKICOMMONS Outfielder: Moonlight Graham, New York Giants (1905) Long before he stood in the on-deck circle, awaiting a Major League at-bat that never came, Fayetteville's Archibald Wright Graham had led a remarkable life, both on-and-off the diamond. "Moonlight," the genesis of whose nickname has never been definitively proven, came from one of the city's most respected families. Graham graduated from the University of North Carolina and went to medical school at the University of Maryland. All nine of his siblings earned college degrees, including his brother, Frank Porter Graham, who went on to become president of UNC and a U.S. senator. In addition to his education, Graham played seven seasons of minor league baseball before he got his cup of coffee with the New York Giants. Unlike the "Moonlight" in "Field of Dreams," the real Graham played three more years in the minors before hanging up his cleats and becoming a small-town physician. Despite his great fame, "Moonlight" is far from the only baseball great to hail from the Fayetteville region. Here is a "Fayetteville Nine," an all-time city "All Star Team" that highlights the great baseball talent that has hailed from the area, both past and present.

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