While working as a photo editor for The State newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina in 1999, I spent part of my off time covering a season in the minors. That is the city’s Minor League baseball club, the Capital City Bombers. The team played in the South Atlantic League as a Class A farm club for the New York Mets from 1993 through the 2004 season.

Baseball at Columbia’s Capital City Stadium along the banks of the Congaree River is more than the crack of the bat, the pop of the mitt and the endless noise of promotions. Before and after the game, and behind the scenes during game time, other little dramas play themselves out against a backdrop of balls and strikes. The players spend hours on end with each other in locker rooms, dugouts, motels and buses. They all share one dream – the goal of one day being Big League ball players.

Al Jackson, right, New York Mets pitching coordinator for all the club’s minor league teams, has been in baseball for 43 years, pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds. Now he teaches fundamentals to Big League hopefuls like Rene Vega, 22, of Bronx, New York, left, as Bombers pitching coach Mickey Weston looks on prior to a game. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon
“Souvenir programs, get your souvenir programs here,” shouts Waite Fulmer, 69, program vendor for the Capital City Bombers. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon
Catcher Kelly Ramos, 22, who’s hometown is San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic, eyes the Stars and Stripes as the Bishopville Junior High School marching band plays the National Anthem behind him early in the season. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon
Long-ball hitter Robert Stratton, 21, or Santa Barbara, California, stays focused steps up to the batter's box. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon
Long-ball hitter Robert Stratton, 21, or Santa Barbara, California, stays focused steps up to the batter’s box. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon
With an 8-2 record for their season, the ABC House Movers Little League team of Kershaw County spent their end-of-season party at the stadium rooting for the Bombers. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon
‘One, two, three strikes you’re out’ sings entertainer David Williams during the seventh inning stretch. A genuine ballpark tradition, fans have expected to see him at the games for years. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon
Long-ball hitter Robert Stratton, 21, or Santa Barbara, California, sits alone in the dugout during a game. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon
Waiting to be called out of the bullpen takes its toll on the players. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon
Bomber the Mouse Jonathan Polson, a junior at Richland Northeast High School, has his nose squeezed by an adoring fan during a game. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon
Bomber the Mouse Jonathan Polson, a junior at Richland Northeast High School who wants to be the Clemson Tiger when he goes to college, tries to cool off beneath the stands after the ‘Beat Bomber the Mouse race’ in the middle of the third inning. Polson, who started with the Bombers at age 10 as a bat boy, says it is 10 degrees hotter inside his suite than outside. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon
Children watch fireworks erupt in the sky above the Capital City Bombers baseball stadium after a game on June 11, 1999. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon
Resting on bags packed for a three-day road trip against the Savannah Sand Gnats, pitcher Heath Bell, 21, of Tustin, Calif. reads about the team’s no-hitter loss against the Charleston, South Carolina River Dogs on June 28. The Bombers have 71 road games this season-their farthest just under 500 miles away against the Delmarva Shorebirds in Salisbury, Maryland. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon
Bombers teammates let loose during an after-game swimming party at an abandoned rock quarry in Columbia. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon
After his team’s victory over the Peidmont Boll Weevils on June 15 to clinch a playoff berth and win the Central Division First Half Championship with a 44-27 record, Capital City Bombers Manager Dave Egle is showered with non-alcoholic champaign , observing the booze ban of their parent organization, the New York Mets. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon
Fans weight for the team to come out of their locker room following a game. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon
Lindsay Setliff of Danville, Virginia waits for her boyfriend, pitcher Andy cook, to come out of the locker room following a late-night game against the Piedmont Boll Weevils. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon

Further Reading

  • Learn the history of the Bombers club at this Wikipedia site for the Greenville Drive.