In their first season as the Royals, they won the South Atlantic League's Southern Division championship, but fell in the playoffs against Greensboro.

Like the Pirates, the Royals were known for their pitching, because in 1981 pitcher Jeffery Gladden led the league with a 2.09 ERA.

1984 was an exciting season for Charleston as the city hosted the all-star game in which Tom Glavine and Pat Borders played.

On the field the Royals went on to win the Southern Division and Kevin Seitzer was named league MVP.

From 1985 to 1987 were the building years as the Rainbows improved each season under a great pitching staff until 1988 when they won the Southern Division title but were bounced in the first round of the playoffs.

1988 was the last of the "good ol' days", because starting in 1989 the team suffered 11 consecutive losing seasons.

Poor play on the field translated into a South Atlantic League record, when in 1990 pitcher Charles Thompson registered 17 losses.

The move to the "Joe" helped to spur a rise in total attendance, as the team set a record with an increase in over 100,000 fans.

At the end of the 2005 season, Charleston was making an attempt to attract a Class Double-A team by expanding their stadium by a few hundred seats.

[citation needed] The day following the 2015 Charleston church shooting, the RiverDogs decided to proceed with their regularly scheduled game, with Dave Echols, the team's general manager, saying: "We feel it is our duty not to let the acts of one radical human being dictate our lives".

The RiverDogs donated the proceeds of the night's game to the charity set up for the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

The first official game took place at the Citadel Green (Marion Square) on May 23, 1866, when the club split into separate teams to play.

Starting in 1920, the Gulls became the Palmettos, however, later that year that name was shortened to the Pals while Charleston was promoted to "Class B".

1947 started out with a bang as the Rebels were promoted to Class A and drew 184,851 fans in the season, a Charleston baseball record that stood until 1997.

Transactions → More rosters: MiLB • Carolina League → Tampa Bay Rays minor league players A number of ex-RiverDogs have gone on to make a name for themselves in Major League Baseball, including: B. J. Upton, Carl Crawford, Rocco Baldelli, Delmon Young, Seth McClung, Josh Hamilton, Toby Hall, Aubrey Huff, Aaron Judge, Danny Burawa, Phil Hughes, David Robertson, Gary Sánchez, Austin Jackson, John Axford, Phil Coke, Eduardo Núñez and Fernando Tatís who all played for the RiverDogs; Sandy Alomar Jr., Roberto Alomar, Carlos Baerga, Homer Bush, Joey Hamilton, and Rich Loiselle, who played for the Rainbows; and David Cone and Danny Jackson who played for the Charleston Royals.

Notable players who have worn the Charleston uniform prior to the current incarnation of the franchise include Baseball Hall of Famer Kiki Cuyler as well as Maurice "Flash" Archdeacon, John Candelaria, Larry Cheney; Dave Dravecky, Steve Farr, Sam Hairston, Odell Jones, Junior Ortiz, Tony Pena, Pascual Perez, George Pipgras, Don Robinson, Willie Randolph, Rip Sewell, Frank Thomas, Al Weis, and Ed Whitson.