| Greensboro claims to have
the oldest park in the minors right now, but this can be argued by several
teams. No matter, Greesnsboro does have a classic old ball park. Though
originally designed for football, it still makes a fine place to see a
baseball game. The seating is a bit odd as it is not symmetrical. The majority
of the seating is down the left field line. A covered grandstand sits behind
home plate with bench seating running down both lines. The seats behind
home plate are individual chairs with plenty of leg room. Down the left
field line there is an additional set of metal bleachers as well as "The
Grandstand" - an open bar like area featuring TV's. There is also individual
seats in this area. It sits right in the left field corner - some of the
seats are actually in fair territory behind the outfield wall. There is
also a small picnic area above the first base bleachers. There is a lot
of foul territory down both lines but not much behind home plate. This
makes for a rare case where the seating behind home plate is actually better
than that down the lines. Besides the foul territory, there is a concourse
area that pushes these seats down the lines back even further. There is
also a covered concourse area underneath the covered grandstand. They feature
a decent variety of concessions, though for some reason offer RC cola instead
of the normal Pepsi or Coke. They also feature something called Cheerwine
- which I assume is a soda like Dr. Pepper or Cherry Coke. The PA announcer
here was extremely annoying. Apparently he thinks he is a comedian, but
I didn't see many people laughing. His act got old before the game even
started. And yes, a mascot is present to entertain the kids. Many of the
usual between inning promotions were done including the Pizza Scream -
perhaps the most annoying promotion going today. Parking can be tight when
there are large crowds, but what they have is sufficient for most nights.
Overall, War Memorial is a nice place to see a game if you can put up with
an annoying PA announcer. Unfortunately, 2004 was the final season of professional baseball here as a new downtown ballpark was constructed and opened in time for the 2005 season. There have been no talks of tearing down War Memorial Stadium, so hopefully it remains in use by amateur teams for many more years.
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