The Greenville Drive were my first successful minor league stop on a baseball road trip in July 2015 (I was supposed to be at the Bristol Pirates the previous night, but the weather had another idea). While the weather wasn’t the greatest that night, I was stoked to see Yoan Moncado play.
Greenville is located in northwest South Carolina. I was coming from Bristol, VA/TN, and spent the day hiking in the Smokey Mountains before making the trip south Greenville. I spent so much time in the Smokey Mountains that I couldn’t do anything around the Greenville before game time. Next to the stadium is the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum, only open on Saturdays, so keep that in mind when visiting. I wish I could tell you how the museum was, but I was in town during the week.
The Greenville Drive are a feeder to the Red Sox and their stadium boasts a “mini” Green Monster in the outfield (as shown in the picture above). As a stadium, it boasted several places to eat, including bbq (this being my first time in South Carolina, I got that) and a bar deck with TV’s. The stadium also had quite the selection of microbrews from SC and the Grenville area. In general, the team and the stadium are new, and it feels that way. There are areas to go when it rains and still watch the game as well.
The stadium is also embedded into the city of Greenville. If you are a baseball road tripper and are looking to walk to games, this was fantastic. I stayed at a hotel not too far away (about a half mile) and walked through a residential part of town. At the end of the game people were out in their yards and in normal southern hospitality expectations, talking to everyone walking by. The field opens up to new construction in the area that brought the feel of the “warehouse” at Camden Yards. It was nice looking but also felt like the outfield view was manufactured and not natural to the area. Compared to other minor league teams I’ve been too, Greenville is on the lower side in terms of advertisements everywhere in the outfield.
The only downside is, at least in 2015, they didn’t have as many of the goofy things that other minor league teams have (superfluous mascots, over-the-top food, ridiculous songs/traditions). However this didn’t take away from the night.
I had a fun time in Greenville watching the Drive and if you’re in the area, it’s a fun team to check out! The stadium is on the newer side and although I was there on a weeknight, the stadium was moderately filled (+ there was very bad weather in the forecast).
Do you know somewhere I should go this year? Let me know! Also check back each Monday as I post more of my journeys to watch minor league baseball across the nation.
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