In 1916, Kingstree became one of seven towns to participate in the Pee Dee League. The rules of the league allowed for 11-man teams with a salary limit of $800. The season ran from June until August. The Kingstree club hired W.S. Biel as manager for the team. Biel had played for Chester in the old South Carolina League and had managed teams in Anderson, SC, and Fitzgerald, GA. At the time of his hiring, he was coaching at the College of Charleston. The women of Kingstree were invited to submit names for the new team. The winner would get a season ticket for the games. The County Record didn't announce who won the contest, but the team was named the Kingstree Red Sox.
The interest in the new league was so great in Kingstree that Scott's Drug Store contracted with Western Union to furnish Pee Dee League scores. When the Kingstree team was on the road, the score each inning was received by telegraph and posted at the drug store.
By early July, Kingstree was in second place in the league, but allegations of impropriety caused a major shake-up. Several players, including manager Biel, were released from the team. The team was accused of using too many players with professional experience. Only three such players were allowed by league rules. The accusers contended that manager Biel knew he was playing too many pros. Biel did not deny the allegation. Instead, he said he had been told to look the other way as other teams were also ignoring the rules. Kingstree was stripped of all wins but two and fined $50. This penalty put the team at the bottom of the standings. Shortstop Heinie Hewell replaced Biel as manager, but the wind had gone out of Kingstree's sails.
World War I put an end to the town's baseball team for a few years, and it was not until 1920 that the Wee Nee Baseball League was formed. There were only four teams in the league, Kingstree, Lake City, Olanta and Summerton. Each club was allowed three college players or semi-pros; all other players must come from within a six-mile radius of the town for which they played.
Also in the summer of 1920, Joe Alston fielded a team of Black men from Kingstee who played several games against other teams from as far away as Charleston.
Kingstree, however, was still reticent about involvement in area leagues as many remembered the scandal of 1916. For much of the 1920s and early 1930s most of the baseball games played in Kingstree were those played by the high school team.
But even those had some newsworthy moments. In April 1932, John K. Fairey, a pitcher for the Boll Weevils, threw a ball so hard in the fourth inning of a game against Hemingway that he broke his right arm above the elbow and injured his wrist. Spectators in the stands heard the bone snap.
In 1937, Kingstree again joined the Pee Dee League, playing teams from Manning, Oates, Lamar and Bishopville. Kingstree did well that year behind the spectacular pitching of Elloree native Lester Antley. Antley, also a star football player, would go on in the fall of 1937, as center and captain for the Auburn Tigers, to lead that team to a berth in the Orange Bowl. He was also named an All-American. (Lester Antley's grandson, jockey Chris Antley, won the Kentucky Derby in 1999.)
In 1946, after World War II, a semi-pro team, the Kingstree Royals, was organized. In September of that year, over 4,000 spectators attended a game in Kingstree when the Royals played the Hartsville Sonocos. Kingstree went on to win the league championship that year.
The next year, Walker "Duck" Yonce managed the team, with A.C. Swails as business manager. Team members included pitchers Jimmy Farmer, Franklin Ward, Joel Duke, and Winston Holliday. Other players were Claude Norwood, 1st base; Tom Overby, 2nd base; Jim Pinkerton, 3rd base; Dunbar "Red" McClary, catcher; Tony Welch, right field; Hess Nesbitt, center field; and George Epps, left field. LeJeune Floyd also played catcher in some games.
The Royals won the opening game of the 1947 season 15-1 in front of 1200 fans in Kingstree.
During the 1947 season, the Royals acquired Frank "Pig" House as catcher. An Alabama native, House was courted by a number of major league scouts. He was signed by the Detroit Tigers in 1958 for a reportedly record signing bonus of $75,000 and two automobiles.
In August 1947, the Charleston Evening Post reported, "No matter how hot the teams in the Coastal Carolina League get, when they run into the Kingstree Royals, they fold up." The Royals again won the league championship that year.
In 1948, Kingstree was back in the Palmetto League. Over 2,000 fans jammed the stands in Kingstree on the Fourth of July to see the team play. By 1949, Clyde Barrineau had joined the team as a pitcher. That year the Royals were governed by a board of directors composed of Wilson Buie, Hal Winslow, Charlie Drucker, Bobbie Gamble, Stanley Inman, and C.G. Bass.
The News & Courier noted in May 1949, "(Tom) Overby sparkled afield for Kingstree, executing an unassisted double play in the second inning." That year, Jim Pinkerton, Herb Rollins and George Epps were the team's leading hitters. Rollins became the athletic director for Kingstree High School, and when he moved on to other business ventures, he was succeeded in that position by Pinkerton.
In 1950, Claude "Buck" Weaver was hired as the team's new manager. Jack Lybrand and Hugh McCutchen were added to the board of directors. In early March, the board sponsored a fundraiser at the high school where pilau dinners were sold at $10 a plate. This raised $2,000 in working capital for the team. Admission that year was Men-75 cents; Women-50 cents; and Children-25 cents. Despite these attempts to raise funds, the team struggled financially throughout the season.
In fact, the board withdrew the team from the league play-offs, announcing that the Royals had played their last game. However, players, backed by several devoted fans, determined that they would see the 1950 season to completion. One fan donated the cost of electricity for lights on the field while another paid for the baseballs used. But, the 1950 season was the last played by the Kingstree Royals, bringing to an end the era of semi-pro ball in the Royal Town.
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