Well done: Texas affiliate debuts Hub City identity

Spartanburg’s nickname is the Hub City, the people who live there are known as Spartanburgers and, hey, come to think of it, who doesn’t love a good burger? Add it all up and you have the name of the South Carolina metropolis’ new Minor League Baseball team: the Hub City Spartanburgers.

The Spartanburgers are set to begin play in 2025 following their relocation from Kinston, N.C., where they are known as the Down East Wood Ducks. The Single-A Texas Rangers affiliate will operate out of Fifth Third Park, currently under construction in downtown Spartanburg. The city last hosted Minor League Baseball in the form of the Single-A Spartanburg Phillies, who played their final season in 1995.

The Hub City Spartanburgers name and logo were unveiled on Saturday evening at what the fledgling franchise billed as a “Team Name Reveal Block Party” featuring live music, food trucks and fireworks. The Carolina League team’s general manager, Tyson Jeffers, said that it was the culmination of an undertaking that began before he assumed his current position this past October.

"The process had already started between some of the leadership at [team ownership group] Diamond Baseball Holdings and the local community -- business owners, developers, local leaders," he said. "They all started working on that plan and had a vision for the name. I took that and worked with [veteran sports logo designer] Dan Simon to help bring it to life."

Jeffers acknowledged that the Spartanburgers identity is "unique and specific," in that it includes a city nickname as the place name while incorporating the city itself into the team name. He explained that the Hub City moniker, prevalent in signage throughout Spartanburg, dates back to the turn-of-the-20th century. Spartanburg's city limits used to be in the shape of a circle, with various railroad lines entering the city via tracks that, taken together, resembled the hub of a wheel.

"It was specific to the railroad industry. Spartanburg was a very big textile and grain mill town," he said. "It was a hub for the rail lines ... a mecca of commerce in its early days. And the other piece of that, today, is the growth of Spartanburg and upstate South Carolina. It is having a resurgence as a hub of different industries and commerce."

The Spartanburgers' color scheme consists of navy blue, bright green, red, brown and yellow. They yet-to-be named burger in question is depicted in the primary logo wearing a train conductor's cap while sitting atop a team wordmark that resembles vintage diner signage.

"If you look at it closely, he's got a twinkle in his eye and he has this smile with his tongue kind of hanging out the side to show happiness and personality," said Jeffers, before going on to explain two of the alternate logos. "[The burger] needed some friends, so we created the spatula, which we've been calling Flip. And then we have the little pickle chip. He's a character that we'll probably utilize a lot with out kid's club, [ballpark] kid's zone, all the kid-related things. We've been calling him Chip."

Chip and Flip are complemented by an array of marks that deviate from the burger motif.

"We do have a line that is just specific to Hub City, and that's a little bit more on the traditional side with the Hub City wordmark and what we call the HC state," said Jeffers. "That's the H and the C with the star on Spartanburg within the shape of [South Carolina]. So we do have the fun parts and we also have a little but more of a professional serious look to go along with it, so this serves the whole population."

The unveiling of the Hub City Spartanburgers name and logo was a significant milestone as Jeffers and the front office staff that he is currently assembling prepare to bring Minor League baseball back to the city after a 30-year absence.

"There really is a ton of energy, and I think part of that has to do with that there's a generation of people that went to Spartanburg Phillies games at Duncan Park," said Jeffers, referring to the city's previous Minor League ballpark. "So you have these people that enjoyed what existed here and now it's coming back. So there's this mindset of, 'We're going to support this' and that's a good feeling.'"

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Many items remain on the to-do list in the lead-up to Opening Day 2025, including one of paramount importance.

"We better have the best dang burgers in baseball, and now we're going to start up that path," said Jeffers. "There's probably be some social media content of us trying to find and build the greatest burger of all time, and that will require myself and our staff to taste test a lot of burgers."