The Gastonia Jets were a minor league baseball One-Year Wonder in the Class A South Atlantic League. The team formed out of necessity when Gastonia owner Jack Farnsworth was unable to secure a Major League parent club for the 1985 season. After a last place finish as the Jets in 1985, the team became the Gastonia Tigers in 1986 when Detroit agreed to take the Farnsworth’s club into its farm system.
Spartanburg, South Carolina was a long-time minor league outpost of the Philadelphia Phillies organization, hosting a Class A affiliate of the Major League club from 1963 to 1994. For most of that era Spartanburg’s local nine were also known as the Phillies. But during a six-year period from 1980 to 1985 the team experimented with several different local identities, including the Traders (1980-1982), the Spinners (1983) and the Suns (1984-1985). In 1986 the team went back to being known as the Phillies.
South Atlantic League (1996-2015) Born: 1995 – Re-branded from Savannah Cardinals Move Announced: May 21, 2015 (Columbia Fireflies) First Game: Last Game: September 12, 2015
Gastonia, North Carolina was a steady outpost of minor league baseball throughout the 1960’s and into the early 1970’s. Future Major League stars such as Dave Cash, Mike Hargrove and Al Oliver put in time at Gastonia’s Sims Legion Park during those years. But poor lighting at the ballpark drove away both the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Texas Rangers organizations. After two summers without baseball in 1975 and 1976, city leaders committed to renovations of Sims Park. The St. Louis Cardinals agreed to establish a Class A farm club in the city for the spring of 1977. Gastonia remained a Cardinals farm club through the end of the 1982 South Atlantic League season.
South Atlantic League (1980-1984) Born: October 1979 – The Greenwood Braves relocate to Anderson, SC Moved: 1985 (Sumter Braves) First Game: April 11, 1980 (L 4-3
Publisher receives compensation for affiliate advertising on this website.
*Like our new look? Next up: site speed. You can help with a tip for our Speed Fund today. Thank you!
