Wesley Cheek Ferrell was born on February 2, 1908, in Greensboro, North Carolina, to Rufus Benjamin "Lonnie" and Alice Clara Carpenter.

[1] His father was employed by the Southern Railroad,[2] and the family lived on a 160-acre dairy farm that was also used to grow crops such as hay and tobacco.

[2][4] Wesley starred in baseball and basketball while playing for Guilford High School, and later for the Oak Ridge Military Academy in 1926.

[2] He was soon noticed by Bill Rapp, a scout for the Cleveland Indians, and in 1927 they, as well as the Detroit Tigers, offered him a contract while he was playing for a semi-professional team in East Douglas, Massachusetts.

He made his Major League Baseball debut on September 9, 1927, pitching a single inning against the Boston Red Sox, and gave up three earned runs.

[5] His 21 victories placed second in the league behind George Earnshaw's 24, and he finished in the top ten in strikeouts, earned run average, and saves.

[11] On May 8, he experienced pain in his right shoulder while warming up for a start against the Red Sox, and for the rest of the season his fastball became largely ineffective, forcing him to rely upon his other pitches.

[12] On August 31 he hit two home runs against the Chicago White Sox in 13–5 victory at Comiskey Park, the first of five times he would achieve the feat.

It was suspected that he had anxiety in regard to his shoulder injury, which caused him to angrily react to perceived bad calls by umpires, and teammates who made errors that negatively affected the game.

On one occasion, Ferrell refused to be pulled from a game by his manager, and was suspended ten days without pay for insubordination.

[18] On August 12, in front of a record crowd of 46,766 fans (with about 20,000 turned away), Babe Ruth made his farewell appearance as a New York Yankee in Boston.

[5] On July 21, with the Red Sox trailing the Detroit Tigers 4–6 in the bottom of the ninth inning and two runners on the bases.

Ferrell was sent in as a pinch hitter and hit a three-run walk-off home run, defeating the Tigers by the score of 7–6.

[24] On June 11, the Ferrell brothers and Mel Almada were traded to the Washington Senators in exchange for Ben Chapman and Bobo Newsom.

Over the following winter, he underwent arm surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow,[2] but was unable to fully recover.

In total, he collected 329 hits, 57 doubles, and 12 triples; delivered 208 RBIs; scored 175 runs; and compiled a .446 slugging percentage, and a .280 batting average.

After his release by the Braves in May 1941, he signed with the Leaksville-Draper-Spray Triplets of the class-D Bi-State League, where he batted .332 with 20 home runs in just 74 games.

Wes Ferrell died at the age of 68 on December 9, 1976, in Sarasota, Florida, and is interred at New Garden Cemetery in Greensboro, North Carolina.

[5] Arguments in favor of inducting Ferrell into the Baseball Hall of Fame include the factors which affected his numbers and lack of post-season success.

In this regard, he is comparable to other high-ERA pitchers that helped themselves by being a good batter such as Ted Lyons, a Hall of Fame member, and Carl Mays.

[32] He was a fiery competitor and a brilliant player with natural talent, whose achievements may have been obscured by his irascibility.