According to this map tallying Facebook likes — hat tip, Business Insider — North Carolina’s major-league baseball loyalties are closely divided between the Atlanta Braves and the New York Yankees.
Why would the Yankees engender such fan interest east of I-95? Could it be residual reverence for Catfish Hunter? Or a previously underestimated in-migration of New Yorkers?
Neither, apparently. As Business Insider observes, “The Yankees are the default team in areas without a team close-by: Louisiana, southern Virginia, New Mexico, Utah, etc.”