Rec Sports
Spartanburgers, Greenville Drive to honor Negro League teams
WATCH: Fans come out to Greenville Drive’s Fluor Field to celebrate Green Day
To celebrate 20 years of Fluor Field, this Green Day the Greenville Drive had a special honoree for their celebration.
- The Greenville Drive and Hub City Spartanburgers will honor the Negro League teams the Black Spinners and Sluggers in an upcoming game.
- The game aims to educate the public about the history of the Negro Leagues and their impact on modern baseball.
- Organizers hope the event will inspire greater youth participation in baseball.
The Hub City Spartanburgers and the Greenville Drive have made professional baseball an important part of the modern landscape of two Upstate downtowns.
They are vital to their respective cities’ visions for the future.
But when players for the two teams take the field at Fifth Third Park on August 24, they’ll be representing an important slice of the Upstate’s history.
Greenville players will wear jerseys sporting the name Black Spinners. Hub City players will show up as the Sluggers.
In the days before Major League Baseball was fully integrated, the Black Spinners and the Sluggers were part of the thriving Negro League system.
Major League Baseball teams – and their Minor League Baseball affiliates – have been honoring the Negro leagues at games and other events throughout the 2025 season.
“For us, we’ve talked about using our platform for the new era of baseball in Spartanburg as an opportunity to remember all those who paved the way,” said Hub City General Manager Tyson Jeffers.
“The Sluggers were a big part of that, and we want to highlight it.”
Greenville Drive General Manager Eric Jarinko said this is the third season that Drive players have worn Black Spinners jerseys at two home games annually – the Saturday games closest to Jackie Robinson Day, on April 15, and Juneteenth.
Jarinko said the upcoming game against Hub City – set to begin at 2:05 p.m. – will help to “educate the public, especially young people, about the rich history and contributions of the Negro Leagues and to show that the game of baseball today is a direct product of their talent and innovations.”
Former Slugger remembers: “This was a baseball city.”
It’s fitting, then, that Archie Means will throw out the first pitch.
He was a second baseman for the Sluggers from 1958-1960. He usually batted at or near the top of the order.
“I was kind of like a speedster,” he said.
Means, who owns a barbershop on Kennedy Street within walking distance to Fifth Third Park, was pleased to see professional baseball return to Spartanburg. And he’s excited to be part of the Aug. 24 festivities.
“I think it’s great,” he said. “It’ll bring back a lot of memories.”
The Sluggers played at Duncan Park stadium. They played to good crowds, Means recalled.
“About the only thing you would have to do on a Saturday or Sunday was to play baseball, and people would show up,” he said.
“This was a baseball city.”
After the Sluggers, Means played a few seasons with a Negro league team called the Spartanburg County All-Stars.
Along the way, the Major League Baseball organizations were becoming more integrated, and Means had tryouts with Detroit and Boston. Things didn’t pan out, partly due to injuries.
Hoping throwback game inspires youth participation in baseball
Means has been working as a barber for more than six decades. He’s had his shop on Kennedy Street since 1983.
Over the years, he’s seen interest in baseball decline among Black youth – they’ve gravitated to football and basketball.
He’d like for the presence of the Spartanburgers – as well as the team’s tribute to the Sluggers – to spur engagement. “Maybe it will,” he said.
Means said he’s grateful for the efforts of Luther Norman to promote youth baseball in Spartanburg.
Norman, who played baseball in college and at the Minor League level, runs the Youth Sports Bureau. The nonprofit works to introduce baseball to “kids who haven’t been exposed to it or who can’t afford the league fees.”
His partners include the City of Spartanburg Parks and Recreation Department and the Hillbrook Baseball League.
Norman’s father-in-law, “Little Newt” Whitmire, owned the Sluggers. Whitmire’s father, “Big Newt,” had previously owned the team.
The Sluggers were a big deal on the Negro leagues scene, Norman said.
“Oh, man. They had one of the richest histories – more than the general public really knows,” he said.
Ed Epps, author of Duncan Park: Stories of a Classic American Ballpark, said the Sluggers, Spinners, and other teams made “mostly unrecognized contributions not only to baseball history but also to race relations during the Jim Crow era.”
Epps noted that Sluggers’ games at Duncan Park drew fans from the nearby white community.
He hopes the game honoring the Sluggers and the Black Spinners will bring out a large crowd. “I hope it calls attention to their contributions,” he said.
Norman said some of the little leaguers he supports will be at the game. He’s excited for them to learn more about the history of the Negro leagues while seeing some of today’s pro ballers in action.
He hopes the popularity of professional baseball in the Upstate will encourage more young people to participate.
But there’s more, he said: “It’s the buzz, man. It brings a lot of people downtown. Nothing brings people together like sports. I think it’s a great thing.”