The History of Baseball in Greensboro

Greensboro has long been a city rich in baseball history with players like Johnny Mize, Derek Jeter and Curt Schilling coming through Greensboro on their journey to "The Show”. The enthusiasm with which the community embraces the players, the ideals and the pastime is what has made baseball in Greensboro a success for over 100 years.

• Greensboro had its first partial season in 1902 with the Farmers of the Class C North Carolina League, posting a record of 20-28.
• In 1908 the Champs played the first full season in Greensboro, winning the Class D Carolina Association pennant with a record of 51-38.
• Renamed the Greensboro Patriots in 1911, the team finished the season second with a record of 66-43.
• Greensboro baseball becomes part of the North Carolina State League in 1913 but in 1917 the season was cut short and the League disbanded due to World War I.
• Baseball returned to Greensboro in 1920 when the Patriots joined the Class D Piedmont League as a charter member. The team defeated Raleigh four games to three in the playoffs to win the pennant.
• Greensboro again won the pennant in 1926 with a record of 86-60, lead by Molly Cox with a .287 batting average, 22 homeruns and 89 RBIs.
• The 1931 Greensboro Patriots became part of baseball’s first farm system, Branch Rickey’s St. Louis Cardinals.
• Second baseman Jim Bucher finished the 1933 season batting .369 with 25 homeruns and 118 runs batted in, missing the Triple Crown by one RBI but the Patriots win the pennant.
• The Red Sox brought baseball back to Greensboro in 1941 after six years without a team. In 1942 the Greensboro Red Sox won the league pennant, managed by future Hall of Famer Heinie Manush.
• Baseball was disbanded after the 1942 season due to World War II, and it returned in 1945 with the Patriots of the Carolina League.
• Shortstop Don Buddin was an All-Star for the 1953 Patriots, leading the league with 123 RBIs and also compiling 25 homeruns and a .300 batting average. Buddin would go on to play five seasons for the Boston Red Sox.
• The 1959 Greensboro Yankees finished the year with a record of 54-76 but featured future Major Leaguer Don Lock and the 1962 American League Rookie of the Year with the New York Yankees, Tom Tresh.
• The 1960 Carolina League pennant winners drew a league leading attendance of 97,594, a jump from 39,408 in the previous season. The team was lead by All-Star shortstop Phil Linz and future Yankee star and author of the book “Ball Four”, Jim Bouton.
• Future Yankee stars Mel Stottlemyre (1962), Roy White (1963) and Bobby Murcer (1965) all made appearances in Greensboro on their way to New York. Murcer was the ’65 Carolina League Most Valuable Player and was called up to New York that September.
• In 1968 Greensboro switched affiliations to the Houston Astros and finished with a record of 61-79. At the end of the season the team dropped out of the Carolina League, and Greensboro would be without a Minor League Baseball team for over a decade.
• Baseball finally returned to Greensboro in 1979 after 11 seasons with no team, when the Greensboro Hornets joined the Western Carolinas League.
• The team finished with a record of 65-71 but had a season attendance total of 165,635, first in the WCL and Class A baseball overall.
• The 1980 team won the pennant with an 82-57 record and featured future Major League stars Don Mattingly, who won the league’s batting title, Otis Nixon, Greg Gagne and Rex Hudler.
• In 1981 the Greensboro Hornets posted a record of 98-43, winning their division by 24 ½ games and coming home with the pennant.
• All-Stars Derek Jeter, Matt Luke, Nick Delvecchio and Ryan Karp lead the 1993 Greensboro Hornets to a first place finish in the first half of the season, but lost in the championship round of the playoffs.
• In 1994 the Greensboro Hornets become the Bats, and outfielder Ruben Rivera is named the South Atlantic League’s Most Valuable Player with 28 homeruns, 81 runs batted in and 36 stolen bases.
• In 2001 first baseman Jason Kinchen broke a 20-year old franchise record for homeruns in a season when he hit his 30th homer in his final at bat of the last day of the season.
• The Bats were renamed the Grasshoppers in October 2004 and left War Memorial Stadium for First Horizon Park in February of 2005.
• The Greensboro Grasshoppers opened First Horizon Park with an exhibition game against the Florida Marlins on April 3, 2005.
• First Horizon Park was renamed to NewBridge Bank Park on November 9, 2007.