Bombers, Blowfish, and Fireflies

By W. Thomas Smith Jr.

Bombers, Blowfish, and Fireflies. If you’re a baseball fan, you probably know something of the history and evolution of our city’s minor-league baseball teams. And if you are casually interested, you might like to know. Either way, it’s a fascinating story albeit a bit convoluted. So let’s keep it simple.

Columbia fielded its first professional baseball team, the Columbia Senators, in 1892.

In 1904, the city team was known as the Columbia Skyscrapers, and it was organized under the South Atlantic League (aka SAL or unofficially the “Sally league”) though that league was not the same organization of minor-league teams as the modern SAL (and we will get to the modern Sally league in just a moment).

In 1905, the Midland’s minor-league team was known as the Columbia Gamecocks (though not affiliated with the University of South Carolina, which had only recently adopted the Gamecock as its mascot); and from 1911 until 1959, minor league teams in Columbia were known respectively as the Columbia Commies, the Comers, the Sandlappers, again the Senators, the Reds, and the Gems. (It was during the period of the Columbia Comers – 1912-1930 – that Capital City Stadium was built near Olympia Mills in 1927.)

A 24-year-period followed the Columbia Gem’s ’59 season wherein there was no minor-league baseball in Columbia.

The seeds for “modern” minor-league play in Columbia began in 1977 when the Shelby Reds were fielded in Shelby, N.C. Affiliated with the major-league Cincinnati Reds, the Shelby Reds were part of the Western Carolinas League, which was destined to become the new South Atlantic League in 1980. Confused? Hang on; it gets a bit easier.

In 1983, the Shelby Reds moved to Columbia, and the team – now affiliated with the New York Mets – was renamed the Columbia Mets.

In 1991, Capitol City Stadium was rebuilt. Two years later, in 1993, the Columbia Mets changed their name to the Capitol City Bombers; so-named in honor of Doolittle’s Raiders who flew B-25B Mitchell bombers and trained briefly at Columbia Army Airfield (the site of today’s Columbia Metropolitan Airport) before their famous raid on Tokyo during World War II.

In 2005, the Capitol City Bombers moved to Greenville (where the team plays today). Their name was changed to the Greenville Drive and their affiliate team in the majors was the Boston Red Sox. Why the Drive? The name was a salute to Greenville’s automotive heritage and to BMW’s and Michelin’s presence in the upstate.

But weren’t there some Blowfish? Yes, when the Capitol City Bombers left Columbia, the Columbia Blowfish (so-named in honor of the city’s famous roots-rock band, Hootie and the Blowfish) filled the gap. The Columbia Blowfish, however, were not professionals but an amateur collegiate summer baseball team organized under the Coastal Plain League. In 2014, the Blowfish crossed the Congaree River and became the Lexington County Blowfish.

In 2015, the minor-league Savannah Sand Gnats (formerly the Savannah Cardinals and affiliated with every big-league ball club from the St. Louis Cardinals, to the Los Angeles Dodgers, to the Texas Rangers, to the Montreal Expos, to the Washington Nationals, and finally to the New York Mets) moved north to Columbia. The Mets affiliation remained, but the team’s name was changed to the Columbia Fireflies. Now you know.

The Fireflies will open their 140-game, 70-homegame season against the Charleston Riverdogs in the Holy City, Apr. 7. The following week, Apr. 14, the Fireflies will play the Greenville Drive in the brand new Spirit Communications Park on the site of the historic State Hospital grounds, Bull Street in Columbia.

Anyway, I suppose I like the idea of Bombers better than Fireflies as a mascot. But as my dad might have said, “Fireflies? Sport, there ain’t nothin’ wrong with fireflies. I hope they light ’em up!” Knowing Dad, though, he might also have preferred they be known as the Columbia Lightnin’ Bugs.

– Visit W. Thomas Smith Jr. at http://uswriter.com.