The first of a four-part monthly series celebrating the Greenville Drive’s 20th anniversary season.
Twenty years ago, groundbreaking occurred for a baseball stadium in what was then downtown Greenville’s dilapidated West End. The ballpark would become home to the Greenville Drive, a new Single-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.
During the ceremony, Greenville City Councilwoman Lillian Brock Flemming prophesied that what was about to come was “much more than baseball.”
She nailed it.
For 20 years, the Drive has been a catalyst for bringing the people of the community together to celebrate what makes the Upstate special.
Drive President Jeff Brown said the “secret sauce” is dedicating 60 percent of programming at Fluor Field to enrich the community.
Using baseball as a backdrop, the Michelin Reading All-Stars program has taught more than 1 million kids the joy of reading.
Each year, the Drive honors the rich tradition of the Black Spinners, a local African American baseball team from the early 1900s, alongside the legacy of Jackie Robinson.
Military and first responder appreciation events salute the heroic individuals who put their lives on the line each day for the sake of others.
More than a baseball stadium, Fluor Field is genuinely a symbol of what community means.
Defining the Drive’s first 20 years, Owner and Chairman Craig Brown recently shared, “Just five years into our mission a local newspaper referred to the Drive and Fluor Field as the front porch of the community. My first thought was if that’s what people think about us, we’ve achieved our goal of becoming a part of the fabric of this community.”
