Rich History of Anderson Textile Baseball Vital to Area

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

From the 1880 until it self-destructed in the 1950s, Textile League baseball was the biggest game in town across much of the South, including Upstate South Carolina, and particularly in Anderson County, home to many of the most storied teams.

Eleanor Walters offered an overview of the league, highlighting some of its best-known players as part of the Anderson County Museum’s “Lunch & Learn” program on Tuesday.

Walters, an avid baseball fan who is a docent at the museum, said she was intrigued by the history of the league and the players who impacted the area even after their days on the diamond.

The Textile League served as a kind of minor league for major league baseball, especially before the professional teams committed more resourced to their own minor organizations. But the fierce competitive nature of the sport led many mills by the 1940s and 1950s to recruit players from other towns, which was a major factor in the demise of textile league baseball. 

The Anderson County Museum includes some information on the Textile Leagues in their permanent baseball exhibit, and has many other artifacts in their special collections.