The Greensboro Grasshoppers
(formerly the Greensboro Bats and the Greensboro Hornets) are a minor league baseball team in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA. They are a Class A team in the South Atlantic League, and have been a farm team of the Florida Marlins since 2003.
The Grasshoppers play home games at NewBridge Bank Park (formerly First Horizon Park), which opened in 2005 and seats 7,499 fans. The team's logo was changed to a cartoon Grasshopper prior to the inaugural season at the new ballpark. Prior to that, all home games for the Hornets and Bats were held at World War Memorial Stadium, just northeast of downtown Greensboro.
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GREENSBORO GRASSHOPPERS TICKETS
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History
Greensboro has fielded professional teams since the early 1900s, in several different leagues. Early on, the nickname
Greensboro Patriots
was applied to those teams, in reference to the
Battle of Guilford Court House.
There were a few false starts. The North Carolina League of 1902 fielded a Greensboro team, but the league failed in mid-season. The Virginia-North Carolina League of 1905 also included a Greensboro franchise. The league completed its season but disbanded thereafter.
The Patriots joined the Carolina Association in 1908 and began a run of 10 straight seasons in pro ball. The league was reorganized as the North Carolina Association for 1913 and renamed itself the
North Carolina State League in 1916. The league played one more season and then disbanded after 1917. By then, America's involvement in
World War I was well under way, and many minor leagues folded after 1917.
With peacetime, interest in professional baseball and the minor leagues revived. The Greensboro Patriots were revived as well, joining the newly-formed
Piedmont League in 1920, winning its inaugural championship. The Patriots also won the league title in 1926. In 1930, the club began a five-year affiliation with the
St. Louis Cardinals.
The Greensboro clubs initially played their home games at Cone Athletic Park, better known as simply
Cone Park
, a small facility on the grounds of the
Cone Mills textile plant.
World War Memorial Stadium opened in 1926 (on
Armistice Day), but the Patriots continued to play at Cone Park until 1930, when the addition of lights and other improvements to the Stadium, spurred by the affiliation with the Cardinals, resulted in the team moving to the Stadium. The various Greensboro clubs would call the Stadium "home" for the next 75 years.
After the Cardinals contract expired, the franchise transferred to
Asheville Tourists in 1935. Five years later, minor league ball returned to Greensboro for a couple of years, with another Piedmont League entry called the
Greensboro Red Sox
, which played during 1941-1942.
After the Piedmont League years, another Greensboro team operated in the
Carolina League during 1945-1968. The club was known variously as the Patriots (1945-1951), the
Greensboro Pirates
(1952-1954), the Patriots again (1955-1957), the
Greensboro Yankees
(1958-67), and the Patriots once again (1968). Following the 1968 season, Greensboro dropped out of professional ball for the next ten years, during a time when minor league baseball had lost popularity. That situation would start to change for the better in the late 1970s, and Greensboro would benefit from it.
The minors returned to Greensboro in 1979, with a new entry in the
Western Carolinas League. The WCL renamed itself as the South Atlantic League the next year, reviving the name once used by the
Southern League. Abandoning the old nickname of "Patriots", which by then was best known for the
New England Patriots of the
NFL, the new club instead decided to adopt the nickname
Greensboro Hornets
. That nickname was better known for teams based in
Charlotte, but the
Charlotte Hornets baseball team had abandoned its nickname after the 1973 season, and the new Greensboro team adopted it. Some naming rights complications arose when the
Charlotte Hornets of the
NBA began play in 1988. The nicknames co-existed in the state until 1994, when the Hornets settled with the NBA and changed their name to the punning nickname
Greensboro Bats
. Consequently, the team mascot switched from a
hornet to a flying
bat wielding a
baseball bat.
With the move from 80-year-old War Memorial Stadium to the new park in 2005, the club further expanded its corporate face-lift by changing nicknames again, to the alliterative
Greensboro Grasshoppers
.
In the 2008 season 18 year old rookie
Michael Stanton, former second round pick by the
Florida Marlins set the single season home run record for the Hoppers with 39 homers.
[1]
Former Greensboro players
Greensboro alumni who had lengthy major league careers include:
- Reggie Sanders, outfielder, Cincinnati Reds and others
- Derek Jeter, shortstop, New York Yankees
- Don Mattingly, first baseman, New York Yankees
- Andy Pettite, pitcher, New York Yankees, Houston Astros
- Jorge Posada, catcher, New York Yankees
- Mariano Rivera, relief pitcher, New York Yankees
- Mike Pagliarulo, third baseman, New York Yankees
- Curt Schilling, pitcher, Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies, Arizona Diamondbacks, Boston Red Sox and others
Roster
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| Players
| Coaches/Other
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Pitchers
- 16 Stu Alexander
- 40 Peter Andrelczyk
- 41 Eric Basurto
- 47 Andrew Battisto
- 40 Adam Campbell
- 34 Steven Cishek
- 22 Hector Correa
- 35 Brett Durand
- -- Rodolfo Encarnacion
- 22 Bryan Evans
- 30 Kevin Gunter
- -- Jeremiah Haar
- -- Kris Harvey
- 38 Kyle Kaminska
- 39 Matt Mallory
- 26 Garrett Parcell
- -- Joshua Roberts
- -- Sandy Rosario
- 44 Alejandro Sanabia
- 29 Jay Voss
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| Catchers
- 27 Tyler Belcher
- -- Jose Ceballos
- 17 Torre Langley
- -- Daniel Santin
- 25 Jameson Smith
Infielders
- 24 Ryan Anetsberger
- 21 Ryan Curry
- 33 Matt Dominguez
- 2 Daniel Garcia
- 1 Osvaldo Martinez
- 32 Hunter Mense
- 11 Emilio Ontiveros
Outfielders
- 12 Thomas Hickman
- 43 Justin Jacobs
- 20 Michael Stanton
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| Manager
Coaches
- 7 Jorge Hernandez (hitting)
- 15 John Duffy (pitching)
† Disabled list
* On Florida Marlins 40-man roster
‡ Reserve list
§ Suspended list
updated 2008-10-16
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