Spartanburg, South Carolina was a long-time minor league outpost of the Philadelphia Phillies organization, hosting a Phils’ Class A farm 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).
The Charleston Royals are a defunct South Carolina farm club of the Kansas City Royals that competed in the Class A South Atlantic League from 1980 through 1984. Notable future Major League stars developed in Charleston during the Royals era included David Cone, Danny Jackson and Kevin Seitzer. The ball club changed its name to the Rainbows in 1985.
The Greenwood Pirates, who toiled in the Class A South Atlantic League from 1981 to 1983, were the last professional baseball team to ever make their home in this South Carolina city. Greenwood’s Legion Field previously was home to the Western Carolina League’s Greenwood Braves from 1968 to 1979. The Pirates’ 1983 total attendance of 8,345 fans for a 72-game home schedule ranks as the worst single-season box office in South Atlantic League’s five-decade history. The franchise moved to Macon, Georgia prior to the 1984 season.
South Atlantic League (1984-1995) Born: November 1983 – The Macon Redbirds relocate to Savannah, GA Re-Branded: 1995 (Savannah Sand Gnats) First Game: Last Game: South Atlantic League
Macon, Georgia was a mainstay on the Southeastern minor league circuit from the turn of the 20th century until the arrival of the Atlanta Braves in 1966. For virtually all of that time, the city’s ball club was known as the Macon Peaches. The city lost its team the year after the Braves arrived and went without pro baseball for 12 years. When the South Atlantic League returned to Macon in 1980 with an expansion franchise, the club re-claimed the historic ‘Peaches’ name.
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