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The Greenville Drive are a
Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...
team based in
Greenville, South Carolina Greenville ( ; ) is a city in Greenville County, South Carolina, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, sixth-most pop ...
. They are the
High-A High-A, officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing, is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A and D ...
affiliate of the
Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...
and are a member of the
South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its h ...
. They play their home games at Fluor Field at the West End, and their mascot is a frog named Reedy Rip'it. An affiliate of the
New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...
from 1983 to 2004, the team played in
Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-mo ...
as the Columbia Mets (1983–92) and then as the Capital City Bombers (1993-04). In the team's first season as a Red Sox affiliate, 2005, they were known as the Greenville Bombers.


History

The Drive began their history in 1977 as the Shelby (NC) Reds, an expansion franchise in the league then known as the Western Carolinas League. In 1980, the league changed its name to the South Atlantic League, reflecting its expansion beyond the Carolinas into Georgia. After two seasons as a Pirates affiliate, and then two with the Mets, the franchise relocated to Columbia, South Carolina in 1983. The team played as the Columbia Mets from 1983 through the 1992 season, after which they were rechristened as the Capital City Bombers. The name was chosen to honor members of the Doolittle Raiders, who had conducted their initial training in Columbia. The club won the South Atlantic League championship in 1986, 1991 and 1998. Following the 2004 season, the Bombers changed affiliations and became the affiliate of the
Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...
, who had previously been affiliated with the SAL's Augusta GreenJackets. On February 11, 2005, Minor League Baseball announced that the Bombers had been granted permission to move to Greenville, where a new park opened in 2006. The Bombers would play in Greenville Municipal Stadium in 2005. On October 27, 2005, the Bombers announced the team's name would change to the Drive. The name was chosen due to the presence of BMW US Manufacturing and Michelin in the area and, more generally, due to Greenville's rich automotive past. An alternative name was chosen after
Shoeless Joe Jackson Joseph Jefferson Jackson (July 16, 1887 – December 5, 1951), nicknamed "Shoeless Joe", was an American professional baseball outfielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the early 20th century. His .356 career batting average ...
called the Joes but
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
vetoed the name due to his role in the
Black Sox Scandal The Black Sox Scandal was a match fixing, game-fixing scandal in Major League Baseball (MLB) in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of intentionally losing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for p ...
in 1919. In 2008, outfielder Che-Hsuan Lin became the first Drive player to be selected to the annual
All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National League- ...
, which took place on July 13 at
Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the home field of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. The stadium opened in April 2009, replacing the Yankee S ...
. Lin hit a two-run
home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...
on the first pitch he saw that helped the World team beat the US Team, 3–0. He finished 2-for-2 and was named the game's Most Valuable Player. Former pitcher
Clay Buchholz Clay Daniel Buchholz (born August 14, 1984) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Toronto Blue Jays. Buchholz made ...
participated in the 2007 edition, a season after playing for the Drive. In 2009,
Ryan Lavarnway Ryan Cole Lavarnway (; born August 7, 1987) is an American-Israeli former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves, Oakland Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates, ...
played for the Drive, hitting 21 home runs and a .540 slugging percentage (both tops for Red Sox minor leaguers) and 87 RBIs in 404 at bats. On May 8, 2012, three Greenville pitchers combined to toss the club's first ever no-hitter. Miguel Pena (six innings), Hunter Cervenka (two), and Tyler Lockwood (one) joined forces to defeat the Rome Braves, 1–0. A solo home run by Keury De La Cruz off of David Filak in the sixth inning accounted for the only run of the game. In the 2017 postseason, the team defeated the Kannapolis Intimidators, 3 games to 1, to win the franchise's first championship since becoming the Greenville Drive in 2006. The Drive had an in-state rivalry with the
Charleston RiverDogs The Charleston RiverDogs are a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League. They are located in Charleston, South Carolina, and are the Single-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. The RiverDogs' home stadium is Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park. Char ...
, an affiliate of the
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...
, while in the South Atlantic League. This particular rivalry was also fueled by the regional rivalry between the two parent clubs. In conjunction with Major League Baseball's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the team moved from being the Red Sox' Class A affiliate to being their
High-A High-A, officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing, is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A and D ...
affiliate, and became a member of the High-A East league; in a corresponding move, the
Salem Red Sox The Salem Red Sox are a Minor League Baseball affiliate of the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB), based in Salem, Virginia, Salem, an independent city adjacent to Roanoke, Virginia. The team competes at the Single-A level in the Car ...
moved from
Class A-Advanced High-A, officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing, is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A and D ...
to
Low-A Single-A, formerly known as Class A and sometimes as Low-A, is the fourth-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States, below Triple-A, Double-A, and High-A. There are 30 teams classified at the Single-A level, one for ...
. In 2022, the High-A East became known as the South Atlantic League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization.


Stadium

Capital City Stadium in downtown Columbia, was the home of the Bombers. The stadium was originally built in 1927, but was completely rebuilt in
1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...
. Capital City Stadium has a
seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...
for 6,000 spectators, has a grass surface and features the following fence dimensions: ( LF) 330 ft., CF 400 ft., RF 320 ft. The Bombers had sought assistance from the City of Columbia in building a new stadium located in the Congaree Vista area of Columbia. Efforts to construct a stadium to be shared with the University of South Carolina's baseball team fell through when the University demanded the Bombers pay $6 million in fees upfront. Following this, Bombers owner Rich Mozingo sought to relocate the team. Mozingo's efforts paid off when, in 2005, the Bombers relocated to Greenville, South Carolina. Following the move, the Bombers played their home contests in Greenville Municipal Stadium in Greenville, then moved to Fluor Field at the West End, in the heart of downtown Greenville. The stadium was named "Ballpark of the Year" for the 2006 season by Baseballparks.com, beating out such stadiums as St. Louis's Busch Stadium and Medlar Field at Lubrano Park in State College, Pennsylvania. The stadium shares the dimensions of their parent club's major league park, Fenway Park, and boasts its own (slightly shorter) "Green Monster" complete with manual scoreboard and "Pesky's Pole" in right field.


Season-by-season records

Below are the season records for the Capital City Bombers, Greenville Bombers, and Greenville Drive.


Capital City Bombers

The team competed in the South Atlantic League (Class A). The team was known as the "Columbia Bombers" during the 1994 season.
Mansolino resigned on June 18, at the request of the Mets, following the alcohol-related death of playe
Tim Bishop
in April; he was replaced by Stephenson.
Source:


Greenville Bombers

The team competed in the South Atlantic League (Class A). Source:


Greenville Drive

The team competed in the South Atlantic League (Class A) through 2020, then moved up to the High-A classification in 2021 as members of the to the High-A East, which became the South Atlantic League in 2022. Division finish and league rank columns are based on overall regular season records. The South Atlantic League utilized a split-season, with first-half winners and second-half winners of each division meeting in the playoffs; if the same team won both halves of the season, the team with the next best overall record was selected.


Roster


Notable Greenville minor league alumni

* Steve Avery (1989) MLB All-Star *
Mookie Betts Markus Lynn "Mookie" Betts (born October 7, 1992) is an American professional baseball outfielder, shortstop, and second baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Boston Red Sox. ...
(2013) 8× MLB All-Star * Xander Bogaerts (2011) MLB All-Star *
Clay Buchholz Clay Daniel Buchholz (born August 14, 1984) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Toronto Blue Jays. Buchholz made ...
(2006) 2× MLB All-Star * Paul Byrd (2004) 2× MLB All-Star * Jermaine Dye (1995) 2× MLB All-Star * Dwight Evans (1970) 3× MLB All-Star *
Rafael Furcal Rafael Antoni Furcal (born October 24, 1977) is a Dominican former professional baseball shortstop. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, and Miami Marlins. With St. Louis, h ...
(2000) 3× MLB All-Star; 2000 NL Rookie of the Year * Marcus Giles (2000) MLB All-Star *
Tom Glavine Thomas Michael Glavine (born March 25, 1966) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball, for the Atlanta Braves (1987–2002, 2008) and New York Mets (2003–2007). With 164 victories durin ...
(1986) 10× MLB All Star, 2× Cy Young winner; Baseball Hall of Fame (2014) *
Bryan Harvey Bryan Stanley Harvey (born June 2, 1963) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher who played nine seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the California Angels of the American League and the Florida Marlins of th ...
(1997) 2× MLB All-Star *
Andruw Jones Andruw Rudolf Jones (; born April 23, 1977) is a Curaçaoan former professional baseball center fielder who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), most notably for the Atlanta Braves. Jones also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tex ...
(1996) 5× MLB All-Star; 10× Gold Glove * David Justice (1987–88) 3× MLB All Star; 1990 NL Rookie of the Year * Ryan Klesko (1995) MLB All-Star * Mark Lemke (1987–88) 11-year MLB veteran, World Series champion (1995) * Kevin Millwood (1997, 2001) MLB All-Star; 2005 AL ERA Leader * Terry Pendleton (1994) MLB All-Star; 1991 NL Most Valuable Player * Anthony Rizzo (2008, 2009) 3× MLB All-Star * Jason Schmidt (1994) 3× MLB All-Star; 2003 NL ERA Leader * Adam Wainwright (2003) 3× MLB All-Star


Notes


References


Further reading

*


External links

*
Greenville, South Carolina Encyclopedia
at Baseball Reference {{South Carolina Sports South Atlantic League teams Baseball in Greenville, South Carolina Professional baseball teams in South Carolina Boston Red Sox minor league affiliates Sports in Columbia, South Carolina New York Mets minor league affiliates 1993 establishments in South Carolina Baseball teams established in 1993 High-A East teams