In the early 1920s, future Hall of Famers Hack Wilson and Lefty Grove (pictured) played for Martinsburg in the Class D Blue Ridge League. In 1920, Martinsburg traded Grove to the Baltimore Orioles for $3,500—the cost to fix a fence blown down in a storm. Just five years later, the Orioles sold him to the Philadelphia A’s for over $100,000. That trade is still considered one of the worst in baseball history.

Other stars also played in West Virginia. In 1934, Frank McCormick, the 1940 National League MVP, played for the Beckley Black Knights. Stan Musial, another future Hall of Famer, played for Williamson in 1938–39.