Hello and welcome to Issue 013 of Shoeless Notes, the email newsletter for the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum and Baseball Library in Greenville, South Carolina.
It’s been a very busy two weeks at the museum since the last newsletter came out. The weather here in Greenville has made it hard to get everything done on the outside of the addition which the crews were hoping to get done (specifically starting to put the bricks up), but luckily all of the framing, exterior walls, and the roof had gone up before the rain came. Windows have been installed, and now the two entrance/exit doors have been installed, as well.
Despite lots of rain the last two weeks, construction has progressed on our addition.
Since the addition had been “dried in,” as they say, that meant it was possible for the crews to start working on the interior, despite the rain. In the past two weeks, insulation went in, drywall went up, and electrical was run. It’s been a whirlwind, and very fast-paced. The CF Evans crews have been amazing, and have accommodated me on-site more times than I’m sure they would have liked to. But working together has been great, and being so close has made it easy to just pop over and see things as they happen, or make any last-minute decisions that need to get made. There’s still a lot of work to do, but we’re getting closer every day, and that’s incredibly exciting.
Another thing that happened in the last two weeks was that the Minor League Baseball season schedules were announced! Thankfully. Finally. We’re so excited to have the Greenville Drive right across the street from us, and we have some cool promotions and partnerships planned together this year. For those of you who live outside the Greenville area and are planning a trip to come safely visit the museum, why don’t you consult the Drive schedule and plan your trip around a game or two?
The 2021 Greenville Drive schedule was recently announced.
The Greenville Drive are a Minor League affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, and Fluor Field (the Drive’s home stadium) is built like a mini–Fenway Park, complete with a Green Monster in left. Some former players who have spent time on the Drive before being called up include Mookie Betts, Anthony Rizzo, Xander Bogaerts, Yoan Moncada, and Clay Buchholz. Come out to a game and see the future stars of baseball for a fraction of the price of an MLB game.
Fluor Field, home of the Greenville Drive. Photo courtesy of VisitGreevilleSC.com
Once you’re in the Greenville area, or for those of you who are here already, please know that our museum will be open before and after all Drive home games. That means you can stop by and see us any game day, regardless of what our normal hours of operation say (11 am to 7 pm, every day of the week, for those of you scoring at home). We will be requiring masks at all times when you’re inside the museum, and will be limiting the number of people allowed in at one time, but we’re excited to finally be able to show you everything we’ve been working on during our temporary closure.
If you are interested in volunteering at the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum and Baseball Library once we reopen, we are starting to put together a list of people now. Whether you can commit to one day a week, or one day a month, we would be happy to talk and see if it’s a good fit. Chances are, if you’re reading this, you love baseball and baseball history, so that’s a good first step.
Mike Miller, a Shoeless Joe Jackson researcher and historian, gives a tour at the SJJM.
You don’t have to be a baseball expert, or even a Shoeless Joe Jackson expert, because we’ll train you and teach you all of the things you’ll need to know to be able to interact with fans and visitors. But if you think you would rather work the cash register and let other people give tours, we will need help there, too. If volunteering sounds like something that interests you, send me an email at shoelessmuseum@gmail.com with the subject line “Volunteer” and I’ll reach out soon to work out details.
Each newsletter, we’re going to spotlight one new member as a token of our appreciation. This issue, we’d like to tell you a little bit about Lamar Garrard, who recently became a member.
New member, Lamar Garrard, and his favorite WWII baseball hero, Lou Brissie, at the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum and Baseball Library Dedication on June 21, 2008.
From the age of 6, Lamar was always interested in baseball. Growing up in the ‘40s and ’50s, almost every boy he knew played some sort of baseball, whether it was sandlot, neighborhood, or Little League. Living in Augusta, Georgia also gave him close access to Detroit’s farm club, the Augusta Tigers. Even though there wasn’t nearly the media coverage in those days, and you might only get to see the Yankees on TV or radio’s national game of the week, it was easier to keep up with the teams back then, since the majors only had 16 of them.
Lamar currently writes a weekly baseball column during the season for three different Augusta area newspapers, and has written several articles for Columbia County Magazine. He has served on committees to bring traveling exhibits to museums and universities, and has helped sponsor the naming of “Lou Brissie Field” in Ware Shoals, South Carolina, complete with a plaque, markers, and a state-of-the-art scoreboard.
Lamar has also served on committees to sponsor the production and placement of multiple historical markers related to baseball. His work has brought a marker to Ty Cobb’s former home in Augusta, and he is currently working to bring one to Warren Park, where Ty Cobb played his first professional baseball game for Augusta in 1904.
A pair of Ty Cobb’s cleats. Photo courtesy of the Hall of Fame.
On a previous trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, Lamar was able to hold a box full of baseballs which had been autographed by Ty Cobb, as well as a pair of his cleats. That left such an impression on him that if he could own a single piece of baseball memorabilia, it would be a pair of Ty’s game used spikes. It’s safe to say he loves baseball history.
Lamar knew that Lou Brissie, Ted Williams, and many others had stated Joe Jackson should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame, so when he was travelling to Greenville and heard about our museum over a decade ago, he knew he needed to stop in and see it. He was able to attend the museum’s official dedication on June 21, 2008, which featured five former major league players, all of whom were South Carolinians. Bob Bolin, Lou Brissie, Don Budding, Billy O’Dell and Bobby Richardson were each at the event.
Lamar has since been a great supporter of the museum, visiting multiple times, and has become much more proactive as a Joe Jackson fan and supporter, too. He is excited to see the great things in store for our museum with the new location and addition, and hopes our museum will evolve into the destination in the South that it should be for baseball fans.
If you want to have a chance to be the new member we spotlight in our next newsletter, you can BECOME A MEMBER of our museum at whichever level best fits your current budget.
As always, thanks for being here. Until next time…
It’s great seeing the construction of the museum is going on rain or shine.I can’t wait for it to re-open and I hope to see a few Drive games too!