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It Might Be 90 Feet to Home Plate, But ETV's "Baseball in the Upstate"
Provides a Nice Jog Down Memory Lane

New "Carolina Stories" Documentary Premieres Thursday, Jan 15 at 9 p.m.

For Immediate Release
January 8, 2009

Columbia, SC...With the Winter Meetings over, and months before the first pitch is thrown in April, ETV brings baseball fanatics something to cheer for, as it presents the latest "Carolina Stories" documentary, "Baseball in the Upstate." The half-hour program airs Thursday, Jan. 15 at 9 p.m. and is chock-full of vintage footage and interviews with folks who worked at some of the Upstate textile mills, and also played for the old Piedmont, Inman and Brandon Mill baseball teams in the Textile Mill Leagues.

While the show begins with these teams, and how baseball's popularity in the South was due, in part, to their games, it also talks about the rise of the segregated Negro Leagues, as well as players who went on to the majors, including Greenville native "Shoeless" Joe Jackson.

Also appearing in the show is Lou Brissie, an Anderson native who played for the Ware Shoals team, and was called up to the 'bigs' to pitch for the Philadelphia Athletics after sustaining injuries in WWII. Brissie recounts his days both on the battlefield and on the bump, staring down the Yankee batters in the playoffs.

Other players who relive their time on the diamond include:

• Cornell "Old Corn" Blakely – Greenville Black Spinners, who began playing in the Negro Leagues at age 15
• Don "Saluda Sam" Roper – Piedmont Mill team
• Jim Everhart – Inman Mill
• James "Pee Wee" Lambert – Inman Mill
• Joe Anders – "Brandon Mill/Greenville Spinners
• Pastor Grady Butler – remembering his father who played for the Black Spinners

The program ends with a visit to the home of the Greenville Drive, Fluor Field at the West End, and a conversation with Drive GM Mike deMaine, who relays the passion that Greenville still has for baseball, carrying on a long tradition in the Upstate.

SIDEBAR: How did "Shoeless" Joe Jackson received his moniker?

"Shoeless" Joe impersonator and Upcountry History Museum volunteer Dan Roberts gives the following account during the program: Greenville News sports reporter Scoop Latimer was covering a doubleheader between the Greenville Spinners and the Anderson Electricians, when he overheard an Anderson fan yell out a much less pleasant version of the name as Jackson slid into base in his stocking feet—seems Jackson had removed his shoes during the second game because they were causing blisters. Latimer kept the "Shoeless," but used Jackson's name in place of the unprintable portion that followed the fan's jeer.

South Carolina ETV is the state's public educational broadcasting network with 11 television and eight radio transmitters, and a multi-media educational system in more than 2,500 schools, colleges, businesses and government agencies. Using television, radio and the web, SCETV's mission is to enrich lives by educating children, informing and connecting citizens, celebrating our culture and environment and instilling the joy of learning.

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For more information, contact Rob Schaller at (803) 737-6556 or rschaller@scetv.org.