Location: Greensboro, North Carolina
Home Field: NewBridge Bank Park
League: South Atlantic League
Affiliation: Miami Marlins
Summary: The third day of this year’s baseball trip will be a busy one (they all will be…). Our first stop will be in Winston-Salem to watch Wake Forest play the Miami Hurricanes in some college action. Then, we’ll be hitting the pavement forty minutes east to Greensboro, to see the Grasshoppers face the Lakewood Blue Claws. I’m really psyched about my first ‘Hoppers game, and the pictures of the ballpark look amazing. I really love the logo and the uniforms are pretty sweet. What makes a game special for us, though, is the great fans we get to meet. Thanks to the guys over at Hoppers Fan, I’m getting a pretty solid preview of the loyal fans that turn out game after game to support this team! I’m really anticipating having a lot of fun at this game. Now for the history lesson… Baseball has been around Greensboro in the early 1900’s with the Patriots. The team name was referenced to the Battle of the Guilford Courthouse. Even their current mascot is named Guilford! The Patriots competed in the North Carolina League, Virginia-North Carolina League, and the Piedmont League. The also played in the Cone Athletic Park and War Memorial Stadium in Greensboro. After the franchise left for Asheville, another team was brought to town in the Piedmont League, the Greensboro Red Sox. After the Red Sox era, Greensboro competed in the Carolina league as the Patriots, Pirates, and Yankees. After joining the Western Carolinas League, which became the South Atlantic League, they renamed the team the Hornets. The team abandoned the Hornets moniker due to the NBA franchise, and became the Bats. The franchise finally settled on a new name, and become the Greensboro Grasshoppers. Again, I really like this logo, and I’m such big fan of the SALly league as a whole. There is a pretty solid list of alumni, too, that laced up the spikes in Greensboro, such as Derek Jeter, Don Mattingly, Robinson Cano, Reggie Sanders, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Pasada, and Curt Schilling. I’m excited to see what future big leaguers will be playing there this spring!
