Greenville Drive Baseball

[whitehourseview]

The city email list, which link was posted earlier, is one I would reccommend that y'all sign up for if you are not on. I answered a trivia question that was on it and won a nice stainless steal Greenville logo coffee travel mug. Plus it's a nice reminder of upcoming Greenville events.

I hope Columbia can continue to grow and to be a special Southern city. It has some inherent advantages, like the Big State U., USC, and state government, which should help it, or which could hinder it. I think that is the question for Columbia: will state government and USC help or hurt the community from growing into a special community.

I'm under 35 years old. For my generation who grew up in the Upstate and followed sports, baseball meant following the Braves on TBS, going down to Atlanta once or twice a summer and catching the rising stars down at the Muni. off of Mauldin Road. After Time-Warner took over the Braves operation in the mid-90's, the whole organization started to run on fumes, the cheapest way possible.

The G-Braves GM, Steve Desalvo, was a star for a number of years in the Greenville community. He was given next to nothing in a promotional budget or facility improvements by his 'big bosses', yet he worked to fund middle school sports in the area and other projects. Perhaps the worse thing about the Braves leaving Greenville was Desalvo leaving town. He's missed.

As long as the Bombers were in Columbia, they were going to be eating off of the scraps of the table from USC. I went to a Bombers game one time when I was dating a girl down that way, seemed like an organization that was trying hard in an impossible situation. I had a college roommate who was a bat-boy for them back in the 80's, loved the opportunity to meet guys who ended up in the majors.

Greenville has been given a special gift with this baseball organization. They care about putting on 70 quality events a year for the community that is affordable for the whole family in a part of town that walking in would have gotten you mugged 10+ years ago. It's a fun, beautiful place that honor's the city's heritage and is trying to ride the wave of whole new future.

It's just single A baseball I know, but it's still something to feel a lot of pride about. It makes you feel better about your town that this place is there. It's sorta romantic and nostalgic, but baseball is very reassuring in a "Field of Dreams" sort of way.

I didn't think I would see something like this in my town. I'm glad it's there. I hope the people of Greenville will treat the Drive as well as they are trying to treat the city.

[krazeeboi]

I should have phrased my earlier post better. What I meant to say was that some Columbia residents who responded to that article in The State didn't feel that Greenville residents had a right to voice an opinion on an article in "their" paper. They made it sound like Greenville residents were trying to stir up trouble, when in reality most were reading the article because it dealt with the city of Greenville and a Greenville sports team.

And that simply reinforces the notion that many in Columbia don't like the fact that Greenville has a team and they don't. They will hopefully deal with it in time, and gradually become appreciative of the things Columbia does have going for it.

From what I read, it seems that most Columbians were actually irate at the city for losing the Bombers and gave kudos to Greenville in orchestrating the move to get them up there. Of course there were a few negative posts on both sides, but that's the gist of what I got from the Columbians.

Get back to me when an F500 company abandons one city for the other. THEN we can really talk about some things.

[whitehourseview]

Is Sonoco still the only South Carolina Fortune 500 company?

I guess Hartsville has a leg up on the whole state then.

[breed]

Is Sonoco still the only South Carolina Fortune 500 company?

I guess Hartsville has a leg up on the whole state then.

For 2006... only 4 South Carolina companies in the Fortune 1000...

SCANA, based in Columbia #447

Sonoco, based in Hartsville #540

Bowater, based in Greenville #544

ScanSource, based in Greenville #982

So, no... SCANA is the only Fortune 500 company.

[goodbye]

Datastream has been a Fortune 500 company for quite awhile as well.

This is kind of off topic, but I wish the Drive would play their away games in Greenville! I wanted to see a game this weekend, but they've left us alone for eight straight games. Oh well...

[RestedTraveler]

They'll be back next Saturday.

[Fiddlestix]

For 2006... only 4 South Carolina companies in the Fortune 1000...

SCANA, based in Columbia #447

Sonoco, based in Hartsville #540

Bowater, based in Greenville #544

ScanSource, based in Greenville #982

So, no... SCANA is the only Fortune 500 company.

Of course Michelin isn't even on the list, and it's not headquartered in Greenville, so maybe this is apropos of nothing. But Michelin's North American HQ is based in Greenville. And worldwide, Michelin's 2005 revenues from all groups puts it in the top 100. Just where a company is "based" nowadays can be a bit amorphous. Back in the early '90s when everyone was competing to get the Mercedes North American plant, North Carolina was a big bidder and seen as a big loser to Alabama. BUT...North Carolina was actually a big winner, with DaimlerChrysler making a far bigger investment in North Carolina with astronomically and geometrically fewer corporate-welfare incentives. They did this by plant and R&D expansions to their Class 8 truck group, Freightliner. Not as sexy as Mercedes, but still excellent automotive industry investment...with lots of spillover into South Carolina (Gaffney and Charleston/Ladson). And Freightliner is headquartered in Portland. With DaimlerChrysler being headquartered in Auburn Hills, MI and Stuttgart (depending on who you ask). But where's the "home" for their investment? Where are the jobs? Where's the tax revenue flowing? Where are the owners and investors located? These may all yield different answers.

So how do you decide "where" a company is located?

Is Boeing really in Chicago now, simply because a handful of executives moved from Seattle to Chicago, in the old Morton International building? Does that relatively minor shift in personnel really mean that Seattle can't lay claim to being the home of Boeing?

There's a whole lot of nexus between Greenville and Michelin -- in terms of white collar jobs and blue collar jobs alike. And, considering that nationally small businesses, collectively speaking, make the Fortune 500 businesses, collectively speaking, pale in comparison -- what does the geographical claims mean, apart from feeding some callow status-conscious thirst that drive cities, counties and states to dole out corporate-welfare -- as they let the far more consequential small businesses fend for themselves and pick up the tab for the decreased tax revenue being paid in by the big, sexy Fortune 500 companies?

I would have to say that Michelin -- which is not even on the Fortune 1000 list -- has more economic impact to Greenville than Boeing -- ranked 25 or 26 -- has on Chicago which it calls "home" mostly in name. Ditto for BMW. In fact, I would compare Boeing's actual economic impact on Chicago to be more comparable to Bowater's presence in Greenville. It cost Chicago a good deal of money to gain little more than the privilege of being able to say that it is home to Boeing.

And, to get things back on track, if Greenville had to trade between being home to the Greenville Drive (guessing around Fortune 129,387) and having the home-office of Costco Wholesale here (#28), I'd keep the Drive...and Michelin...and BMW...and the small-fry businesses that make up the larger portion of our local economy, like the Red Robin and Blue Jay stores, Horizon Records, Soby's, New South, Nuts and Suche, etc., etc.

Edited April 29, 2006 by Fiddlestix

[gs3]

Great read! Opinion piece from the GV News about why baseball "is right" in downtown Greenville. Excellent article.

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs....1/1008/ARCHIVES

[Greenville]

Thanks for posting that article, gsupstate. Excellent read!

[goodbye]

Nice to see the front office calling it a ballpark too!

[RestedTraveler]

Ah, but have you noticed all the wayfinder signs the city has placed throughout downtown and the new 2006 Downtown Maps?

[goodbye]

Yeah, I couldn't help but notice those. They look nice, but not the best. At least they're consistent.

[gs3]

Great article about the daytime / lunch hour games at the new ballpark:

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs....1/1005/ARCHIVES

[whitehourseview]

Y'all might want to visit www.BallparkDigest.com tomorrow:

The week ahead on Ballpark Digest NEW!

Posted May 1, 2006

Coming up this week on Ballpark Digest: tomorrow we'll have our look at the brand-new West End Field, the home of the Greenville Drive (Class A; Sally League), while we have a review of Campbell's Field, the home of the Camden Riversharks (independent; Atlantic League), on Wednesday. Both are great ballparks, but West End Field already is one of the most special ballparks in the minors; it's a great facility on many different levels. We'll have a review of the new Baseball Prospectus on Thursday, followed with Bob Wirz's weekly column on Friday.

[RestedTraveler]

Y'all might want to visit www.BallparkDigest.com tomorrow:

Here it is: http://www.ballparkdigest.com/visits/greenville.htm

Five Baseballs!!!!!

[RestedTraveler]

We've evidently got to work on making our skyline more impressive, though. I guess this ain't Minneapolis (or even St. Paul).

[gs3]

Excellent article!

[RestedTraveler]

You can tell he certainly did his research and spoke to the right people. It is a very well written article, indeed! Props to Kevin Reichard and Ballpark Digest!

OK...now, let's get to work on our skyline so that view's more impressive from the 500 Club!

[Fiddlestix]

Kevin Reichard did a great job. He takes great pride in his work. My favorite parts were:

1) his omission of Reedy Rib'it (though the Drive's "other" Green Monster is visible in the background of photos);

2) his use of the word "cattywampus" -- classic!

3) how he took time to explain that not everyone in Greenville is delusional about Joe Jackson. I, for one, happen to be of the mind that just because he couldn't read doesn't mean he couldn't count, but I'm still perplexed as to how he can't be posthumously admitted to the HoF with the lifetime ban having been served (and then some). Now that ban does nothing but punish people who don't deserve it. Put him in Cooperstown and have his plaque mention how he brought shame to himself and his team and the game itself...along with his amazing ability to wallop a baseball like few others before or since.

[Fiddlestix]

Referring to the picture below that Skyliner first posted here, what is the LAW in Greenville pertaining to scalping? I assume that a strict "no resale" rule applies on the sign, but that seems to be only on team-controlled property. Can tickets be resold legally elsewhere? What restrictions apply? And, if they can be resold with certain restrictions by law, then what punishment can the team levy against a violator? Ejection from the park...for those already inside. But what else could they do, practically speaking, if you're not breaking the law and you're outside the ballpark trying to buy or sell a ticket? They can't take it from you or make you show your ID to them....

[RestedTraveler]

I suppose the key here is that you have to get caught. I "re-sold" my 2 SRO Tickets to Opening Night to g-man430; however, I sold them to him at cost and did not intend to make any profit, so it really doesn't matter. What, exactly, do they consider to be "resale?" Obviously, my "resale" to g-man wasn't something I'd consider to be a violation. I doubt they can do very little to enforce this; however, if there are local laws pertaining to scalping, I'm sure they wouldn't hesitate to call over one of the many city police officers that are present at each game.

[goodbye]

I can't say whether or not Shoeless Joe actually did help throw the series, but as Fiddlestix said, he was indeed one of the greatest players in the history of the game and that should be reason enough for him to be honored and remembered among the greatest. Well what Cooperstown loses is something Greenville gains in reputation. I have run into quite a few people from other places interested in the history of Shoeless Joe Jackson in Greenville.

[whitehourseview]

That was an impressive artile by Ballpark Digest. I like it that he mentioned he was inundated with emails from Greenville folk. I bet that doesn't happen when he goes to Philadelphia or St. Louis.

That article is extremely positive publicity for Greenville. He said everything about stadium and experience that the city leaders and Drive management probably would have wanted him to say. Even when he mentioned the critical items, he was not biting or mean about it.

As far as scalping/ticket resale goes, South Carolina law allows you to sell tickets for $1 over face value. A walk through Clemson on a football Saturday will tell you its rarely enforced. The closer you get to the stadium, you will often see guys selling Tshirts and hats for a hundred dollars and the tickets for less than face value as a way to get around the law.

Looking at the other major and minor league clubs that also have "5 baseballs", it's great company for West End Field to be in.

[TREY]

Great article

[goodbye]

All I can say about West End Field is:!