Inside The Rangers

Spartan Burgers? New Texas Rangers Minor League Affiliate Announces Team Name

The Texas Rangers’ Class A affiliation is heading to Spartanburg for the 2025 season and the team now has a nickname.

Matthew Postins

May 29, 2023; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Texas Rangers cap in glove sits in dugout.
May 29, 2023; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Texas Rangers cap in glove sits in dugout. / Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
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The Texas Rangers will move its Class A affiliate from Down East in Kinston, N.C., to Spartanburg, S.C., for the 2025 season.

Now, we know what the new team will be called.

The Rangers’ new affiliate will be called the Hub City Spartan Burgers, according to MILB.com.

The affiliate will play in Fifth Third Park, a downtown facility that is under construction and will be ready next April when the Wood Ducks make the move.

When the Spartan Burgers debut, they will be the first minor league affiliate in Spartanburg since the Class A Spartanburg Phillies in 1995.

Team officials announced the new team name, logo and uniforms at an event last weekend.

They went with Hub City because it is Spartanburg’s nickname. At the start of the 20th century, Spartanburg’s city limits were the shape of a circle and the railroad lines that connected the city to the rest of the state resembled a hub.

The team’s colors will be navy blue, bright green, red, brown and yellow. A hamburger will be the team’s primary logo and instead of wearing a baseball hat it will wear a train conductor’s hat, reaching back to the city’s roots.

General manager Tyson Jeffers expects the team to have two distinct types of merchandise.

"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 Rangers’ other affiliates are High-A Hickory, Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Round Rock.

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Matthew Postins
MATTHEW POSTINS

Matthew Postins is an award-winning sports journalist who covers the Texas Rangers for Fan Nation/SI and also writes about the Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies. He also covers the Big 12 for HeartlandCollegeSports.com.

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