A Minor League Baseball team based out of Greensboro, North Carolina, the Greensboro Grasshoppers compete in the Carolina League. Members of the High-A East, they are also a minor league baseball team that is a farm system for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Their home games are held at First National Bank Field, which opened in 2005 and has a capacity of 7,499 spectators.
In preparation for the team’s first season at the new ballpark, the logo was altered to a grasshopper. The name Guilford was chosen by fans for the team’s mascot, a huge grasshopper, after the county in which Greensboro is located. World War Memorial Stadium, which is located northeast of downtown Greensboro, previously hosted all of the Hornets’ and Bats’ home games prior to that date.
Since the early 1900s, Greensboro has fielded professional teams in a variety of leagues, including the National Hockey League. Because of the Battle of Guilford Court House, the Greensboro Patriots were given the designation Greensboro Patriots from the beginning of their existence.
There were a few false beginnings along the way. When the North Carolina League was formed in 1902, local cotton dealer Leon J. Brandt fielded a Greensboro club. However, the league folded midway through the season. The Greensboro Framers franchise, which was also owned by Brandt, was a member of the Virginia-North Carolina League in 1905. The league finished its season but was forced to disband shortly after.
The Greensboro Patriots became original members of the Carolina Association in 1908, kicking off a record of ten uninterrupted seasons in professional baseball for the team. The league was reconstituted as the North Carolina Association in 1913 and renamed the North Carolina State League in 1916, after which it was reorganized as the North Carolina Association in 1913. It played one more season before disbanding following the 1917 season. By then, America’s involvement in World War I had already begun, and several smaller leagues were forced to close their doors after 1917.
From 1945 until 1968, a second Greensboro team competed in the Carolina League, following the conclusion of the Piedmont League period. The Patriots were known as such from 1945 to 1951, the Greensboro Pirates from 1952 to 1954, the Patriots again from 1955 to 1957, the Greensboro Yankees from 1958 to 1967, and the Patriots once more from 1968 to present (1968).
Following the 1968 season, Greensboro withdrew from professional baseball for the next ten years, at a time when minor league baseball was seeing a resurgence of interest. That situation would begin to improve in the late 1970s, and Greensboro has continued to reap the benefits of that improvement to this day.
The Carolina Theatre of Greensboro
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