Baseball America honors Fireflies as Best in Class-A
December 19, 2024
Columbia named Bob Freitas Award Winners as top team
Baseball America named the Columbia Fireflies the recipient of the 2024 Class-A Bob Freitas Award. The Bob Freitas Award recognizes clubs that have demonstrated long-term business success, operational excellence and outstanding community involvement. The award takes into account each member of the staff from the executive level as well as gameday team members working both inside and outside the ballpark.
“We are incredibly honored to win the Freitas Award for the first time in the history of our organization,” Team President Brad Shank said. “The opportunity to serve our fans in Columbia and the Midlands and provide them with the best experience is always our mission. To receive this highly coveted award—and the Top Single A Team by Major League Baseball — is a testament to our staff and team members in passionately pursuing that mission. It is an honor for me to get to work every day with our amazing team members. Being recognized at the highest levels will only drive us to find more for our fans and grow the impact in Columbia.”
This is the first time the Fireflies have won the Bob Freitas Award since coming to Columbia in 2016. Baseball America first gave out the award in 1989 after long-time baseball ambassador and Minor League operator Bob Freitas passed away. This is the second Organization of the Year Award the Fireflies have won this year, as they also were named Minor League Baseball’s 2024 Single-A Organization of the Year.
In 2024, the Fireflies welcomed nearly 225,000 fans into the gates of Segra Park for baseball games and continued to grow the special events hosted at the facility. The team also saw over 75% growth in its second season of Fireflies Holiday Lights and hosted several concerts and food festivals at Segra Park over the course of the year. In addition to that, the Fireflies hosted more than 200 private events with over 80,000 guests during 2024.
In addition to providing professional baseball and a great fan experience in a family-friendly setting, the Fireflies are committed to serving the Midlands community through charitable giving, donations and encouraging employees to volunteering with local non-profits. In 2024, the Fireflies donated in excess of $125,000 to community organizations through auctions and in-kind donations. The staff also volunteered more than 500 hours of service to the Midlands community. In October, when Hurricane Helene reared through the Carolinas, the Fireflies were one of a handful of Minor League teams who banded together to host donation drives benefitting the Asheville and Augusta communities and saw truckloads of non-perishable food, clothing and other goods transported to the areas devastated by the storm.
The club also had a landmark year on the field, as the Fireflies tied a franchise record with 68 wins and locked in their highest winning percentage in franchise history at .519.
Don’t miss out on the final few weeks of Fireflies Holiday Lights presented by Lexington Medical Center. The Fireflies are finishing strong with some character appearances coming after Christmas! Join us as the Winter Sisters come to Segra Park December 27 and Bluey returns to Segra Park January 3. Buy your tickets now at FirefliesTickets.com.
