Duncan Park and Negro League Ball Visit the Spartanburgers at Fifth Third Park

As a part of their ongoing celebration of the Hub City’s 100+ years of baseball history, the Hub City Spartanburgers will sponsor “Salute to the Negro Leagues” on Sunday afternoon, August 24th, at Fifth Third Park.

The teams that afternoon will be local rivals the Greenville Black Spinners (aka The Greenville Drive) and their opponents the Spartanburg Sluggers (aka The Hub City Spartanburgers). Both teams will wear replica jerseys, which will be auctioned during the game as a fundraiser for the Youth Sports Bureau and its many programs for city youth.

There will be a number of events at the stadium on the 24th commemorating the Upstate Negro League teams and the national history of Negro League baseball.

A highlight of the day will be the appearance of two local former Spartanburg Sluggers players who will be seated at a table on the concourse to autograph fans’ programs and other memorabilia and to chat with fans about their time as players and the history of the game. One of these remarkable men will be Archie Means, the longtime proprietor of Archie Means Barber Shop on Kennedy Street across from the Spartanburg County Headquarters Library. Archie began playing baseball early in life, becoming a member of the adult Foster’s Grove baseball team when he was just 11 years old. Later he was an infielder and occasional pitcher for the Sluggers, where he acquired the nickname “Showboat” because of the enthusiastic nature of his play. As a young man on the team, Archie looked up to veteran players like pitcher Bob Branson, known as the Satchel Paige of the South, and George Wannamaker, who went on to play Major League Baseball.

The other noteworthy player for the Sluggers who will appear at Fifth Third Park on the 24th, his health allowing, is Boyd Talley, former Mayor James Talley’s brother. A former Assistant Playground Director at the T. K. Gregg Center, 28-year veteran employee of Winn-Dixie, and semi-truck driver, Boyd says that “baseball grabbed me” when he saw how much fun his brother had playing the game. Boyd pitched to his catcher brother James and was a standout defenseman at all positions. He played mostly for Draper Corporation in the industrial league, starting when he was still in high school, and filled in for the Spartanburg Sluggers when they were short-handed. Prominent Sluggers whom Boyd played with included catcher Jesse Carter, left fielder Chris Ferguson, pitcher James “Jimbo” Parker, and Poochie McMahan.

In addition to their memories of baseball at Duncan Park—including watching the Spartanburg Phillies from the top of the outfield fence—Archie and Boyd both remember the old Southside, Liberty Street, and the Black business district on Short Wofford Street. They enjoy talking about the Spartanburg of yesteryear and have clear recollections of the Jim Crow era, the loss of Black downtown to “urban renewal,” playing against teams in mill villages like Pacolet, and traveling out of town to places like Atlanta, where eight players would room together and sleep on the floor on pallets in a single hotel room. Both men were recently interviewed by Christen Bennett for the Oral History project of the Spartanburg County Public Libraries. Christen can be reached at The Kennedy Room of Local History and Genealogy for additional information.

Other special features of August 24th at Fifth Third Park include appearances by Negro League researcher Scott Busch, local author Dr. Ed Epps, and special videos on the big screen. Busch, a Walhalla resident, is researching the comprehensive history of Negro League teams throughout South Carolina, particularly in the Upstate and focusing on the Taylor brothers of Anderson, SC. His “Out of the Shadows” project has been featured at the Anderson County Museum and at Fluor Field in Greenville, and there is a short 2023 video about it on YouTube. At Fifth Third Park Busch will be displaying Negro Leagues photos and memorabilia; he can be reached at scottbusch42@gmail.com

Epps is the author of Duncan Park: Stories of a Classic American Ballpark (Hub City Press, 2023), winner of the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR) 2024 Research Award. He has presented programs at the Spartanburg County Headquarters Library, the Spartanburg County Historical Association, the Larry Doby SABR Chapter, and local civic clubs and schools. He will have a table at Fifth Third Park to sell and autograph copies of his book and to chat about the history of baseball in Spartanburg; he can be reached at eepps7@icloud.com, and his Beautiful Duncan Park blog can be accessed at www.beautifulduncanpark.com; subscribing to the blog is complimentary, and there is a SUBSCRIBE button on each blog post.

Tickets for next Sunday's game are still available, but they are going fast. To purchase yours, go to https://www.milb.com/hub-city/schedule/2025-08?affiliateId=/tickets or to your secondary market seller of choice.