North Carolina has long been known as a state that produces great baseball players and at least two former North Carolina High School Athletic Association players are participating in the World Series.

Of course, the saga of Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers has been well documented. The former Athens Drive High School star, who had a terrible detour to his career due to drugs which he  chronicles in his autobiography Beyond Belief,  is a four-time major league all-star who hit 25 homers and had 94 runs batted in this season to go with a .298 average. He had hit a sizzling .359 in 2010, earning American League Most Valuable Player honors.

Matt Harrison of the Rangers is a 26-year old pitcher who was born in Durham and attended South Granville High School. He signed a letter of intent to attend N.C. State but instead went into professional baseball when he was drafted in the third round by the Atlanta Braves.

Harrison went 14-9 with a 3.39 earned run average during the 2011 regular season.