A Nice Old Park in the Metropolis

Exterior of World War Memorial Stadium, Aug-1997.

Both reserved and general admission seats are found beneath the roof. This photo and the next are from Jul-2002.

The view from behind the plate, with trees visible beyond the outfield.

Chronological Tour: Stop 120

• Location: Yanceyville Road, Greensboro, N.C.
• Opened: 1926
• Home team: Greensboro Patriots (1926-34), Red Sox (1941-42), Piedmont League; Greensboro Patriots (1945-51, 1955-57), Pirates (1952-54), Yankees (1958-68), Carolina League; Greensboro Hornets (1979-93), Bats (1994-2004), Western Carolinas/South Atlantic League; Greensboro College Pride, USA South Conference
• Capacity: 7,500

Rating: 3 baseballs

Greensboro has entered the modern age of sports in recent years, with the construction of the 21,000-seat Coliseum, which hosts NCAA basketball on a regular basis and also harbored the NHL Carolina Hurricanes for two seasons. The area had been bidding for a Major League Baseball team to transplant itself there as well.

In the meantime, however, the area continued to enjoy pro baseball through 2004 at World War Memorial Stadium, constructed and named before anyone envisioned the possibility of a second World War. The park was originally built in even more of a horseshoe configuration, to better accommodate football, but seats down the right-field line were removed many years ago and home plate was realigned so that the distances down the lines would be closer to normal.

Many fans get to sit under the canopy, which, after the realignment, is no longer balanced behind the plate. Additional fans can enjoy the game in foul-line bleachers, particularly down the third-base line, or the beer garden in left field which was built during the 1990s.

On my first visit to the park, in 1997, the restroom facilities were labeled “Bat Rooms”; these signs had been removed by the time of my 2002 return visit.

A new baseball park in downtown Greensboro opened for the Greensboro club, rechristened the Grasshoppers, for the 2005 season. This spelled the end of professional baseball at this venerable facility; however, the field will continue to see college and high school games.