Greenville Drive

The Drive began their history in 1993 as the Capital City Bombers. The name was chosen to honor members of the Doolittle Raiders, who had conducted their initial training in Columbia. The Bombers won the South Atlantic League championship in 1998.

Following the 2004 season, the Bombers changed affiliations and became the affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, who had previously been affiliated with the Augusta GreenJackets, also of the South Atlantic League. On February 11, 2005, Minor League Baseball announced that the Bombers had been granted permission to move to Greenville, where a new park opened in 2006. The Bombers would play in Greenville Municipal Stadium in 2005.

On October 27, 2005, the Bombers announced the team's name would change to the Drive.[1] The name was chosen due to the presence of BMW US Manufacturing and Michelin in the area and, more generally, due to Greenville's rich automotive past.[2] An alternative name was chosen after Shoeless Joe Jackson called the Joes but Major League Baseball vetoed the name due to his role in the Black Sox Scandal in 1919.[3]

In 2008, outfielder Che-Hsuan Lin became the first Drive player to be selected to the annual All-Star Futures Game, which took place on July 13 at Yankee Stadium. Lin hit a two-run home run on the first pitch he saw that helped the World team beat the US Team, 3–0. He finished 2-for-2 and was named the game's Most Valuable Player. Former pitcher Clay Buchholz participated in the 2007 edition, a season after playing for the Drive.[4]

Ryan Lavarnway

In 2009, Ryan Lavarnway played for the Drive, hitting 21 home runs and a .540 slugging percentage (both tops for Red Sox minor leaguers) and 87 RBIs in 404 at bats.[5][6]

On May 8, 2012 Greenville made history as three pitchers combined to toss the club's first ever no-hitter. Miguel Pena (six innings), Hunter Cervenka (two) and Tyler Lockwood (one) joined forces to defeat the Rome Braves (Atlanta), 1–0. A solo home run by Keury De La Cruz off David Filak in the sixth inning counted for the only run of the game.[7]

In the 2017 postseason, the team defeated the Kannapolis Intimidators, 3 games to 1, to win the franchise's first championship since becoming the Greenville Drive in 2006.

Prior to the 2021 season, the Drive moved from being the Red Sox' Class A affiliate to being their Class A-Advanced affiliate; in a corresponding move, the Salem Red Sox moved from Class A-Advanced to Class A.[8]

Capital City Stadium in downtown Columbia, was the home of the Bombers. The stadium was originally built in 1927, but was completely rebuilt in 1991. Capital City Stadium has a seating capacity for 6,000 spectators, has a grass surface and features the following fence dimensions: (LF) 330 ft., CF 400 ft., RF 320 ft.

The Bombers had sought assistance from the City of Columbia in building a new stadium located in the Congaree Vista area of Columbia. Efforts to construct a stadium to be shared with the University of South Carolina's baseball team fell through when the University demanded the Bombers pay $6 million in fees upfront. Following this, Bombers owner Rich Mozingo sought to relocate the team.

Mozingo's efforts paid off when, in 2005, the Bombers relocated to Greenville, South Carolina. Following the move, the Bombers played their home contests in Greenville Municipal Stadium in Greenville, then moved to Fluor Field at the West End, in the heart of downtown Greenville. The stadium was named "Ballpark of the Year" for the 2006 season by Baseballparks.com, beating out such stadiums as St. Louis's Busch Stadium and Medlar Field at Lubrano Park in State College, Pa.[9]

The stadium shares the dimensions of their parent club's major league park, Fenway Park, and boasts its own (slightly shorter) "Green Monster" complete with manual scoreboard and "Pesky's Pole" in right field.[10]

Below are the season records for the Capital City Bombers, Greenville Bombers, and Greenville Drive.[11]

Capital City Bombers

The team competed in the South Atlantic League.

Season	Division	Record	Pct.	Division finish	League rank	Manager	Playoffs
1993	South	64–77	.454	6th	10th	Ron Washington
1994	South	59–76	.437	5th	12th	Ron Washington
1995	South	72–68	.514	3rd	8th	Howie Freiling
1996	Central	82–57	.590	2nd	2nd	Howie Freiling	Lost to Asheville Tourists, 2–0
1997	Central	77–63	.550	1st	3rd	Doug Mansolino John Stephenson	Lost to Greensboro Bats, 2–0
1998	Central	90–51	.638	1st	1st	Doug Davis	Defeated Piedmont Boll Weevils, 2–0 Defeated Hagerstown Suns, 2–1 Defeated Greensboro Bats, 2–1 League Champions
1999	Central	83–58	.589	1st	2nd	Dave Engle	Defeated Greensboro Bats, 2–1 Lost to Cape Fear Crocs, 2–0
2000	South	56–81	.409	7th	13th (t)	John Stephenson
2001	South	62–73	.459	6th	11th	Ken Oberkfell
2002	South	75–64	.540	3rd	6th	Tony Tijerina	Lost to Columbus RedStixx, 2–1
2003	South	73–65	.529	5th	7th	Tony Tijerina
2004	South	89–47	.654	1st	1st	Jack Lind	Defeated Charleston RiverDogs, 2–0 Lost to Hickory Crawdads, 3–0

The team was known as the "Columbia Bombers" during the 1994 season.
Mansolino resigned on June 18, at the request of the Mets, following the alcohol-related death of player Tim Bishop in April; he was replaced by Stephenson.[12]
Source:[13]

• Rabasco, Nick (September 15, 2017). "Cup of Coffee: Drive capture South Atlantic League title". SoxProspects.com. Retrieved September 30, 2018.

• Official website
• Statistics from Baseball-Reference