This digital story recording was created in conjunction with the Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street program and its Stories from Main Street student documentary initiative, called "Stories: Yes." The project encourages students and their mentors to research and record stories about small-towns and rural neighborhoods, waterways, personal memories, cultural traditions, work histories, as well as thoughts about American democracy. These documentaries are then shared on Smithsonian websites and social media.
Students from the Anderson County School District worked with the Belton Area Museum Association in South Carolina to produce this documentary featuring oral history interviews related to the Smithsonian traveling exhibition "Hometown Teams: How Sports Shape America," which toured South Carolina in 2016 and was on view in Belton.
Speaker 1 (00:18): Textile mill baseball was a source of hometown pride, bragging rights, and wholesome entertainment. Chiquola Mill's owners wanted the best and most talented players available.
Speaker 2 (00:30): To field a winning team, players were recruited from other mill teams and even the minor leagues.
Speaker 1 (00:36): The Chiquola Mill owners found ways to entice and keep the best players.
Joe Atkin (00:42): The mill started checking around, finding players. They'd come there and want a job. Jobs was hard to get back then. They'd give these guys a different town to give them a job, little old light job, messing around toting water, or little nothing to play ball on Wednesday. But they're trying to get the best ball players so they could win.
Ellis Lark (01:06): My understanding that they would go to Florida during spring training, and some of the players that were not going to make it in the majors, the different mill companies went after them to come and play textile baseball for their mill.
Speaker 5 (01:22): They got more money than the mill workers. A skilled mill worker, they probably made right at $12 a week. And I've been told some of these baseball players when they came to town, they made $25 a week. And so they didn't do any manual work. They just more or less played baseball. And the mill company looked after these guys because it was a way of life and everybody enjoyed baseball.
Mae Knox (01:55): It just cost 25 cents to get in. And this little boy was standing there looking through a knothole, looking at the ball game. In case a foul ball came over the fence, he could get that foul ball and go into the park to see the ball game.
Speaker 2 (02:13): Inside of each of these houses counted by the ball players, there were numerous fans of all ages.
Joe Atkin (02:20): They had a crowd.
Ellis Lark (02:22): And that was a big way of life for people on the village to go and watch these baseball teams play.
Speaker 1 (02:30): Early players made a great impression on the young boys, inspiring them to pursue baseball.
Speaker 5 (02:36): Shag, who was probably the best ball player that's ever played in Honea Path, hit a home run over the left field fence. He was a little guy in stature, but he hit that one out of the park. And Shag was my hero when he played.
McDavid Carr (02:50): They called mama. Told mama, "Have a place for him, and get somebody to meet him." Course me being a young little boy, that tickled me death. Going to be a ball player.
Speaker 1 (03:06): Shag Knox spent over 40 years in Honea Path influencing the quality and integrity of baseball play.
Asset ID: 2022.23.02
Find a complete transcription at www.museumonmainstreet.org
