Hub City Spartanburgers Revealed in South Carolina

The Single-A baseball team that will be a Texas Rangers’ affiliate starting next season in Spartanburg, South Carolina, had its brand unveiling during a block party Saturday as the Hub City Spartanburgers were revealed to a large crowd.

“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,” General Manager Tyson Jeffers 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.”

The Hub City Spartanburgers name and logo were showcased at a “Team Name Reveal Block Party” featuring live music, food trucks and fireworks. The color scheme consists of navy blue, bright green, red, brown and yellow. They yet-to-be named burger 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, also explaining two 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 our kid’s club, [ballpark] kid’s zone, all the kid-related things. We’ve been calling him Chip.”

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 team will play at Fifth Third Park, currently under construction. 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 moniker dates to when Spartanburg’s city limits used to be in the shape of a circle, with various railroad lines entering the city via tracks that resembled the hub of a wheel.

“Spartanburg was a very big textile and grain mill town,” Jeffers 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.”