I spent the first 6 or so years of my life on the mill hill in Simpsonville, South Carolina. Our nextdoor neighbor was a man named "Red" Barbary. I remember my father talking about Mr. Red playing professional baseball and I remember some of the baseball games they had going on at what is now Barbary Field in Simpsonville. The older I get, the more fascinated I am with the rich baseball heritage we have in South Carolina centered around Textile League Baseball. You probably have heard of Shoeless Joe Jackson, who got his start playing in the textile leagues. This link gets you to a great site which discusses textile league baseball: http://historicbaseball.com/scplayers/history.html
To read about Red Barbary (he pitched 22 innings in one game and he wasn't a pitcher! He was a catcher - know for being able to sit behind the plate all day like he was sitting on a 5 gallon bucket) go to: http://www.historicbaseball.com/players/b/barbary_red.html
I could not believe that South Carolina had never done anything to formally recognize textile league baseball. The guys who played the game then are getting older and starting to pass away. The stories they tell are GREAT! I put a bill up to formally recognize the opening day of baseball season in South Carolina as "Textile League Baseball Day."
Trivia: The first baseball game ever played in South Carolina was played in Greenwood County in the Cokesbury Community in 1873.
