Greenville Drive Baseball

[Greenville]

^ Very good points, gsupstate. There are plenty of examples of closed-mindedness anywhere you look. Unfortunately for us, the ones associated with the South from generations ago seem to be more prominent. I think the media has a lot to do with this, and the Boston Globe isn't doing much to improve it.

When I did an internship in Boston last summer, I noticed that a lot of women there do not wear makeup. Why don't I write an article talking about how the "Yankee women in Boston were characteristically drab and unfeminine" and how I just couldn't wait to hear someone say "pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd." Or maybe I could talk about how "people up North must be pretty stupid since it took them over a decade to finish the Big Dig." Pretty silly, huh? That attempt to put others down to make myself feel superior would accomplish nothing.

The sad thing is that there are some people in South Carolina who will read that article, be slightly offended or insulted by the stereotype of the South, and hold a grudge against all Bostonians or Northerners. And then we're back where we started, fighting a war that ended in 1865.

Edited June 15, 2006 by Greenville

[goodbye]

Out of curiosity, has anyone responded to this writer?

[RestedTraveler]

Am I the only one that took the political comments on the deep south with a grain of salt and a pinch of sarcasm? I just didn't find it that offensive....more tongue-in-cheek than anything.

[g-man430]

Same here.

[RestedTraveler]

Half-Season Tickets.....now that sounds interesting...

[whitehourseview]

Just a FYI - for those with Charter Cable, the SAL All-Star game from the Lake County stadium will be broadcast on CSS, channel 58 I believe, on June 20, Thursday at 7 PM. And as mentioned earlier, there will be two Drive players on the South Division all star team.

http://www.ballparkdigest.com/news/2006arc...tm#sally_league

Edited June 16, 2006 by whitehourseview

[g-man430]

This is one of the many reasons why I have cable and not satellite.

[gs3]

My meeting this morning ended quickly and on a high note, so instead of trying to catch an earlier flight, spent some time and drove around the Tollway North burbs of Dallas as they've always been some of my favorite burbs. Came upon Dr.Pepper Ballpark for the Frisco Rough Riders. Thought it was pretty great looking and took a few photos. A totally different look from West End, I found it a very unique look for a ballpark. Looks more like Churchill Downs.

I posted this because, a year ago, it wouldn't have made the same impression on me. I would have passed by. West End Field has gotten me really interested in baseball and ballparks. West End Field is just a big positive force in the lives of Greenvillians!

[RestedTraveler]

Interesting Trivia: Mike deMaine, the G-Drive's GM, came to the organization from the Frisco Roughriders.

Great photos, gs! I'm headed out there in a couple of weeks (Tyler, TX) and plan to go into the Metroplex for at least one day of the trip.

Edited June 17, 2006 by RestedTraveler

[gs3]

^ Very interesting. Wonder if he had a hand in this ballpark?

Have fun while in Texas! Are you going to take in any games?

[eastsider]

I was able to go to a RoughRiders game while I was down there last month. It is unlike any ballpark I have ever seen. Some unique features like a pool just over the right field wall, the bullpens were up next to the main concourse, the suites are in seperate buildings down the lines kinda giving it a neighborhood feel, and then there is an gravel walkway "nature walk" on the outer perimiter of the stadium. It was wierd walking around and just seeing several rabbits grazing on the grass. The between inning entertainment was quite good as well. If your ever down there when a game is scheduled, it is well worth checking out.

[motonenterprises]

Greenville Drive has a new highest attendance, blowing up the previous record with an attendance of 6,822! I was there and it was definetly packed.

[goodbye]

Greenville Drive has a new highest attendance, blowing up the previous record with an attendance of 6,822! I was there and it was definetly packed.

WOW! That is fantastic!!! I imagine today's double-header will draw another large crowd. Unfortunately, I'll be in Atlanta until late evening, but I know of several friends planning to go.

[Fiddlestix]

Frisco is owned by Mandalay, which was one of the three organizations hoping to move to Greenville. When they made their announcement and were trying to impress people (which was easy-to-do because it is an incredibly impressive organization) they sent packages out to people and I was on their mailing list. The stuff they sent (DVDs and brochures and various goodies that they send their season ticketholders for various teams) was awesome. Totally awesome.

For an interstate ballpark, Frisco packs a lot of WOW features -- based on the pictures and materials they provided (I didn't see it live and in-person). One of the features I thought was impressive was how they marketed season packages for businesses. The typical ticket deal you'll find -- such as here -- is you buy seats for the season and you let some employees or clients/customers use tickets. But at, say, $8 a seat, you're not giving them that much. And considering they're going to buy food and souvenirs, they end up spending more than what you've given away. How about just sending them a bill instead as their reward? In Frisco, they have season packages that include dinner and more. Your guests would go to the ballpark early and have a catered meal or they can go and have coupons good for food and drinks and souvenirs at the concession stand. Throw in valet parking and that's something worth purchasing. Spread 4-8 seats per game over a season to your employees and customers and that's a package that, I think, would be practically a "necessity" for many area businesses -- a luxury box experience without the luxury box.

West End Field probably couldn't host the pre-game catered meals like they can in Frisco, but they could work with area restaurants, perhaps, to have catered meals available for pick-up at a concession area. Or, failing that, they could just go with prepaid concessions -- still a great employee/customer/client reward.

Mike de Maine was the Asst. GM in Frisco -- joining the team with the GM, Mike McCall, who had been the Commissioner of the West Coast Hockey League. They were both involved in the construction of the ballpark in Frisco -- which was the best new ballpark of 2003. de Maine's arrival in Greenville this spring means history will also peg him as being GM for the opening of one of the best (probably the best) new ballparks of 2006.

Mandalay also owns the Las Vegas AAA team (Pacific Coast League). Its goal is to own one team in each non-rookie league. That means, at AAA, it hopes to find a suitable International League team. And, at AA, it needs to fill in with a Southern League team. It was sort of odd that they even tried to move to Greenville. Of course it made sense in terms of demographics. (At the time, Orlando was the only larger market that didn't already have a team (which should tell you a lot about what disposable funds minor league baseball competes with -- as Orlando is large enough to host major league sports teams).) But Mandalay's single A team was also a Sally League team. And while the Bombers had obtained Sally League permission to move to Greenville (and the DiamondJaxx had received approval from the Southern League), there was no Sally League approval from the Hagerstown Suns -- which had switched to the Mets affiliation that the Bombers parted with to become a Red Sox affiliate). I'm still perplexed by the decision to try to get a team in here...unless the Suns were a "placeholder" team as they tried to work a deal to acquire a Southern League or International League team in which case they would have had the upperhand in terms of winning approval from the Commissioner. I don't think the threat of a move to Greenville was played to extort a new stadium deal from Hagerstown. In fact, Mandalay promised Hagerstown that if the Suns moved to Greenville they would bring in a new team in another league -- which was a pretty classy thing to do. Hagerstown town officials that I spoke with loved Mandalay and believed they would keep baseball in their town -- which confirmed to me that Mandalay was a solid organization.

But most impressive of all is Mandalay's single-A team in Dayton, OH. In fact, it's one of the most impressive minor league organizations in all sports in terms of management, community outreach, attendance (I believe they had 3 straight years of sellouts), employee relations, fan approval, etc. On the field the team's not so impressive.

If you get a Mandalay team in your town, you're doing real well. They know how to entertain -- as their sports division is a sister to other units including their movie production division. Mandalay is partly owned by Peter Guber, the former Sony mogul who remains a force to be reckoned with in the entertainment industry. Given how near-perfect the Drive experience has been and how nearly flawless the ballpark is, it's hard to articulate regrets that the team isn't owned by Mandalay. But if Craig Brown hadn't come to town, I wouldn't want to see Mandalay kicked out of our bed for eating crackers...so to speak.

Edited June 17, 2006 by Fiddlestix

[g-man430]

Be Rewarded For Supporting Your Hometown Team. More info: http://greenvilledrive.com/news/news.asp?newsId=491

[g-man430]

[g-man430]

There is only one thing I have to say and that's: IT'S PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME, WHERE YOU AT, WHERE YOU AT, WHERE YOU AT NOW THERE YOU GO, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY PEANUT BUTTER JELLY PEANUT BUTTER JELLY WITH A BASEBALL BAT, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY PEANUT BUTTER JELLY PEANUT BUTTER JELLY WITH A BASEBALL BAT.

[RestedTraveler]

There is only one thing I have to say and that's: IT'S PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME, WHERE YOU AT, WHERE YOU AT, WHERE YOU AT NOW THERE YOU GO, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY PEANUT BUTTER JELLY PEANUT BUTTER JELLY WITH A BASEBALL BAT, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY PEANUT BUTTER JELLY PEANUT BUTTER JELLY WITH A BASEBALL BAT.

That's becoming almost as much of a tradition as singing "Sweet Caroline." Too bad my daughter doesn't like my singing...

[whitehourseview]

There is only one thing I have to say and that's: IT'S PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME, WHERE YOU AT, WHERE YOU AT, WHERE YOU AT NOW THERE YOU GO, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY PEANUT BUTTER JELLY PEANUT BUTTER JELLY WITH A BASEBALL BAT, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY PEANUT BUTTER JELLY PEANUT BUTTER JELLY WITH A BASEBALL BAT.

I first saw the original Peanut Butter Jelly about '1998 or so. I still cracks me up everytime, that and the more cowbell clip they show on the scoreboard.

[Greenville]

That's becoming almost as much of a tradition as singing "Sweet Caroline." Too bad my daughter doesn't like my singing...

RT, does your daughter know that her picture is on UrbanPlanet?

[RestedTraveler]

It wouldn't be a first.

[Cap'n Prowler]

Went and gave blood today. A first for me. Also the first time in the stadium, and I'm quite impressed. The folks at the registration table asked where I heard about the blood drive, so I made sure to plug UP - they even asked me to write down the address for them. So that was nice. They were very generous with the freebies; I even got two free tickets to the 7/21 game. I was slightly disappointed though because that meant they still didn't have 50 people (not affiliated with the Drive) donate, and this was in the evening.

[gs3]

There is only one thing I have to say and that's: IT'S PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME, WHERE YOU AT, WHERE YOU AT, WHERE YOU AT NOW THERE YOU GO, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY PEANUT BUTTER JELLY PEANUT BUTTER JELLY WITH A BASEBALL BAT, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY PEANUT BUTTER JELLY PEANUT BUTTER JELLY WITH A BASEBALL BAT.

I always loved Peanut Butter Jell....ee! Anybody know where I can get this on CD? Who originally did it?

[distortedlogic]

Greenville Drive has a new highest attendance, blowing up the previous record with an attendance of 6,822! I was there and it was definetly packed.

I was at this game, and I have to say that is was packed! In fact packed is not even the word. And the fireworks at the end were really cool. This is great for gville. Anybody think they might need to add a few hundred seats?

[Fiddlestix]

Went and gave blood today. A first for me. Also the first time in the stadium, and I'm quite impressed. The folks at the registration table asked where I heard about the blood drive, so I made sure to plug UP - they even asked me to write down the address for them. So that was nice. They were very generous with the freebies; I even got two free tickets to the 7/21 game. I was slightly disappointed though because that meant they still didn't have 50 people (not affiliated with the Drive) donate, and this was in the evening.

You rock, dude! First time donor? Awesome! I may have to go to a game in my Speedo and flip-flops just in your honor. I'm thinking if any single UPer can self-certify that they give 18 platelet units or 6 whole blood units over the next year, they can stop such a horrifying scene from being played out at West End Field. Do it for the humanity....