Diamond memories

For many of us, it’s hard to imagine summer without memories of Little League, attending a double-header, or spending an afternoon in front to the tube catching a game with your old man. It’s also a game that musters up tons of nostalgia. There is no denying that baseball in America is iconic, as American as apple pie.

Henry “Sabb” Green knows this all too well as he spent his life on the fields and ended up being one of the best baseball players to have ever came out of Bluffton. From his extremely humble upbringing on Bluffton’s Buck Island Road or to the beautifully manicured diamonds in Florida, the game of baseball runs through his blood. His father at one time helped to coach the Bluffton Eagles baseball team and a young Henry had fond memories of Eagles Field.

“I remember as a young kid, running around in the outfield, shagging fly balls for the older players of the Eagles team. Even at a young age, to be on that field meant something!”

Mr. Green grew up and attended Michael C. Riley on Goethe Rd and then onto McCracken High where he was a standout on the mound. “I had a 95-96 mph fastball in high school and around an 85-mph curve, and that was bringing the smoke” laughed Henry over the phone to me.

“We were a 1A school when I graduated in 1975 but we’d also play some of the bigger 3 A and 4 A schools back then when we could. I’d have 17-18 strike outs in a 7-inning game!”

One of the issues that haunt a lot of the good athletes from this area back then is the recruiting process for colleges. “Bluffton was still so small, and we’d get overlooked a lot,” said Green. “Plus, I only had about a C average which didn’t help my cause a lot.”

“I had a guy form Newberry College come look at me once and talk to me, but unfortunately that fell through.”

Green got drafted in the 17th round by the Kansas City Royals organization and was sent to Florida to play rookie ball. He played for a few years with different teams in Sarasota as well as Daytona Beach. Unfortunately, a back injury began to sideline him and around 1979 he threw in the towel and headed back to Bluffton.

“It is one of my biggest regrets to this day, that I didn’t stick with it for longer. I know that I could have made it to the majors, God blessed me with such talent. At that time, I didn’t have a lot of support from my family. I was from a very poor family and being able to leave to see me play on the west coast of Florida was not very feasible,” said Henry.

“I was making $500 a month playing baseball, and if you can believe it, I could have made more just staying in Bluffton” chuckled Green.

In 1979 Green headed back to the familiar streets of Bluffton where he got a job working for Jerry Reeves at RSI. “I worked there for about a year, but I didn’t have a car and I’d have to try to get to and from Hilton Head,” said Green. “It just didn’t make sense.”

Waste Management was on Buck Island, so Henry went to fill out an application and ended up getting hired that day. “I ended up making a pretty good life for my self-driving a garbage truck, ended up doing it for 28 years!”

“I still got to play for the Eagles for about 8 more years or so after I came back home, so at least I still got to play in front of the community that I love.”

Mr. Green also got to help a lot of the younger generation of Bluffton players as well such as Stevie Jenkins, Keith Hamilton, Larry Jenkins, and Bryant Kitty to only name a few. “It was nice to feel like those guys looked up to me, even if they never said it.”

Today Mr. Henry Green lives in Columbia SC but gets here at much as he can. “I’m fighting a sickness right now but I’m winning” said Green happily.

When I asked Henry what he thinks about Bluffton, he said sincerely, “Bluffton is home for me. There is nothing that compares to the community that is Bluffton and I have been graced by God to be able to have had such a rich life and grow up in such a special place!”

Paul Tollefson is the Director of Tennis at the Hampton Hall Club in Bluffton. He found his love for the Lowcountry in early 2002 after graduating high school and unsure of what career path he was destined towards. After moving from Hilton Head to Bluffton he became enthralled with the history of the town and the people and cultures that called it home for many generations. He has found a passion in writing and enjoys being able to share the stories and pictures of long-time locals. He is the co-creator of the Facebook page “Bluffton Then and Now.”