SUMMARY:
The Greenville Drive is a Boston Red Sox minor league affiliate that makes their home in downtown Greenville, SC. With a new stadium completed in 2006 – the Drive attract residents of the Upstate region to many of their 70 home games throughout the year.
ARTICLE:
In 2005 – professional baseball returned to downtown Greenville, SC with the addition of the Greenville Drive to the city’s sports teams. The Drive are a minor league Class A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. Prior to 2005, the Drive had been located in Columbia, South Carolina and known as the Capital City Bombers.
Not only is the Greenville Drive an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox – but their stadium, Fluor Field at the West End, was modeled after Boston’s own Fenway Park. Outfield dimensions are the same with a replica of the ‘Green Monster’ as well as the popular manual scoreboard and right field foul pole nick named ‘Pesky’s Pole.’ In 2006, Fluor Field in at the West End was named “Ballpark of the year” by Baseballparks.com – beating out other major league fields like Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
Fluor Field at the West End is located right in the center of downtown near Falls Park on the Reedy. Not only is it the home to the Drive – but it hosts a number of other events throughout the year. In 2007, the park saw a new attendance record for Greenville when 339,810 fans attended home games of the Drive throughout the year. The stadium and the team hope to continue this success by hosting numerous fan appreciation nights throughout the season.
In 2006, the team was renamed to the Greenville Drive as a nod to the large influence of BMW and Michelin and the growing automobile industry in the Upstate region. The mascot of the team is a frog named Reedy Rip’it. He’s popular with the children and adds to the excitement of the games at Fluor Field.
Greenville was excited when one of the Drive’s popular players was named to the 2008 All-Star Futures Game at Yankee Stadium in New York. Outfield Che-Hsuan Lin was selected for the World Team and hit a home run on his first pitch and was selected as the game’s Most Valuable Player.
Although the Greenville Drive is relatively new to Greenville – the organization has been around for a long time. They’ve had a few homes along the way – starting out as the Shelby Reds in Shelby, North Carolina in 1960. In 1983, the team moved to Columbia, South Carolina where they became the Capital City Bombers followed by the move to Greenville in 2005.
The Greenville Drive is a popular team in Greenville. Many spring and summer nights find Fluor Field at the West End filled to capacity as the residents of the city cheer on their minor league team with major league enthusiasm.
Updated: January, 2010