CAYCE, S.C. — The 1964 Cayce Dixie Youth Baseball team is remembering their historic journey to a World Series title.
The 1960’s was the decade where the Ford Mustang was introduced, people fought for Civil Rights, and America’s most popular sport was baseball.
The year was 1964 and the eyes of the nation were following the St. Louis Cardinals on their way to a World Series Pennant. In the town of Cayce, South Carolina, though, it was all about one little league team.
“Baseball? That’s America’s past time,” Stewart said. “Man, that’s like an apple pie.”
“Shoeless Joe. Cayce. They’re all together,” Dixon said.
As the guys sit back and remember the old days, they remember spending most of it on the baseball diamond.
It’s been nearly 50 years since Glenn Culley, Randy Stewart, Jimmy Chavis, Delmar Faust, and Russell Dixon have sat together in the dugout of the ballpark off Jessamine Street.
“I remember riding my bicycle down here to practice with my glove over my handlebars, and I played here for five years on this field,” Culley said.
Faust responded, “We played baseball all the time.”
It’s been 55 years since they’ve played on the same field. It’s safe to say a lot has changed; with the guys, with the game.
“A different field than we played on,” Stewart said.
“I miss the block wall where are all the businesses supported Cayce,” Dixon said.
Culley laughs and said, “If you ran into that wall, you felt it. It was concrete block.”
Back in 1964, the infield was all clay. Now grass surrounds the pitcher’s mound.
“The history of baseball here, I’m telling you, baseball was big in Cayce,” Dixon said.
“You’d come by the park any Saturday. Might be 12 or 15 guys out here playing ball and it was a lot hotter than this,” Chavis said.
While everyone on their team was good, one player would eventually stand out from the crowd and become one of the greatest Gamecock baseball players to ever take the field.
“Put out a lot of good, quality ball players. You take Earl Bass that played on our team here. Even the teams we played here in Columbia, they knew of him well,” said Glenn Culley.
RELATED: USC Baseball Great Earl Bass Dies
In 2018, Earl Bass passed away in Florida. He’s remembered as an SEC legend who still holds national records to this day.
“Glenn, when I went to the funeral home to sign the book for Earl, I put my name on there and I put 64’ champs,” Dixon said.
“Earl just had his number retired at USC. Of course, Earl’s family represented him.” Stewart said.
1964 was a season to remember. In this time and in this city, baseball was everything. 16 players, two coaches, and three bat boys in the Dixie Youth League had a dream of making it to the World Series.
“I remember one headline the coach said, ‘All they do is eat, sleep, and play baseball.” Stewart said.
After dropping two games, the team rebounded and found themselves playing for the title in Columbus, Mississippi.
“I remember riding on that Greyhound Bus so long. All we could see was trees, and trees, and trees,” Culley explained.
“No interstates,” responded Faust.
“Finally when we got there, we’d never seen so many baseball fields together in one spot at one time,” Culley said.
Dixon responded, “First grass infield I ever saw was the championship one in Mississippi. Is that’s right?”
All responded in unison, “That’s right.”
“We’ve never played on a grass infield before until we went to the World Series and that’s something our coach was worried about us playing on,” explained Culley. “So we practiced very hard for that. The ball came to us a lot slower than it did on a regular clay infield.”
When the team made it to the final game, it was a memorable one. In a tight game with Virginia, Bass ended up hitting a grand slam, eventually leading Cayce to take home the world title by a final score of 8-2 and a 22-3 record.
“We won it, and I remember we were happy campers,” laughed Stewart.
“We were interviewed by Bob Fulton. Everything we were asked was, ‘Yes sir! Yes sir!’ There was so much noise going on,” Chavis said.
Culley responded, “When we won, they told each player to run up to the press box where we were going to talk to people back home. I was the first one up there.”
The team got the ultimate treatment in the form of a parade in Columbus. They had another one once they came back to Lexington County.
“We were proud, after all we should have been,” said Stewart. “We did have a parade. I do remember that. I think we came through Athens, Georgia and came down 378 and I think we met on this side of Lexington.”
The team also got to visit the Governor’s Mansion when Donald Russell held office. The team ate ice cream with the governor and took a picture in front of the governor's home.
But that wasn’t the greatest gift this team received.
“There in Columbus, we had a family, and I told these two guys and I don’t know if they remember it or not, him and his daughter would show us around Columbus,” said Culley “She was pregnant and she had the baby after we got back and I remember it being said she named the baby Cayce. We left something in Columbus, Mississippi.”
Some of the players haven’t seen each other in over 50 years. They’re all together now because the Cayce Historical Museum has opened up an exhibit to honor the team.
It features some of their old gloves, baseballs, bats, trophies, and photos from their glory days.
“I tell you what, this moment has been a long time coming. I am impressed and thrilled to no end to meet up with these guys again. I haven’t seen Russ in probably 50 years,” explained Chavis. “The whole experience taught you discipline, taught fellowship, and we played against each other through the regular season but when we came together as a team, we played as a team.”
“Very proud that I was born in Cayce and I had the opportunity to play here with these guys and remember that team. I’m very thankful for that," Stewart said.
“It establishes the families, it gives the kids sportsmanship and also teaches them something that they carry in life.” said Culley.
The team says they are excited and thrilled the City of Cayce would honor them in this way. While they’re happy to see a lot of their old teammates, they can’t help but remember the ones who have been lost along the way.
“We wish that they were all here. I do remember them. I can see their faces, expressions, and remember talking to them and all,” said Dixon. “We competed against each other all that season but for that time and for that summer, we were a team. You do think about them and you wish they were here.”
One of these players had his son and grandson go on to play on the same big stage. Read Culley's three-generation story here.
You can check out the exhibit at the Cayce Historical Museum. They are open Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. On the weekends they are open from 2 p.m. until 5 p.m.