Textile Baseball
It is very difficult today to understand how important baseball once was to the little textile towns like Pacolet Mills. Before the coming of television and modern day transportation, recreation was largely homegrown. In the 1920’s, 30’s, 40’s and into the 1950’s, textile league baseball was extremely popular throughout the Piedmont.
Almost all of the Upcountry textile towns had a baseball team and serious rivalries developed. The level and skill of many of the players were fantastic. A number of them went on to have successful major league careers. The most famous of these was Shoeless Joe Jackson who played for Brandon Mills in Greenville. He went to the major leagues to play. His short career came to an end when he was playing for the Chicago White Sox when he was caught up in the betting scandal of 1919. The legend of Shoeless Joe continues to grow long after his death. His ghost was the hero of the movie “Field of Dreams”.
The home of the Pacolet Mills Trojans was the community ballpark just on the edge of town. It was an important facility to the town. The ballpark was also the site of the town July 4th celebration for many years. Additional pictures of the park and the celebrations can be seen at July 4th and Photo Album 7.
See photographs of many of the Pacolet teams over the years at Pacolet Baseball Teams. Thanks to Don Camby for furnishing most of these photographs and identifying the players.
The baseball teams were important to the adults of the textile towns but also to the young boys. Click on the following link for a story that describes how the Pacolet Trojans affected me as a child. Although written about the team at Pacolet Mills, the Trojans, the same can be said about the teams at Glendale, Clifton, Drayton and the other textile towns of the Upstate.
Many of the textile league players went on to the major leagues. Click on the following link to read more about baseball players from Spartanburg County, including those from Pacolet, who went on to play in the major leagues.
Pacolet High School had many successful baseball teams. Click on the following link for photos of some of the high school teams.
This web site has been started as a public service to share the story of Pacolet.
