Scott's View - Greensboro, North Carolina
We've visited Greensboro twice, two years apart.
The first time, in 2003, the Greensboro Bats played in War Memorial Stadium. WMS was one of several stadiums we've been to which have claimed to be "the country's oldest Minor League ballpark!" It was erected in 1926, and I know of a park in Evansville, Indiana which was built in 1915, and one in Williamsport, Pennsylvania that went up in 1923. These also profess to be the "oldest." Looking more deeply into these claims, they usually turn out to mean the oldest park without having been remodeled, or the oldest park to be home for a team in consecutive years, or some other such caveat. But in the end, it doesn't really matter. War Memorial Stadium was an old concrete structure with a healthy dose of character. It's where the "rainout" scene in Bull Durham was filmed ("Oh my goodness... We got ourselves a natural disaster!"), and its stately exterior made a quick appearance in the film as well.
Another Greensboro location used in Bull Durham (briefly) was the Beef Burger drive-in. During a montage scene of the Bulls on a horrific road trip, the team bus is shown parked in front of Beef Burger as a coach carries a bag of burgers out to the bus. That was the extent of the Beef Burger's film career, but being fans of the movie, it was enough for Ron and I to seek the place out and get a picture or two. We ended up discovering some of the tastiest -- and cheapest -- burgers we've ever had. Originally known as "Biff Burger" (the name was changed for legal reasons some years ago), this place has a rich history in Greensboro and is a can't-miss piece of local color.
After enjoying our burgers, we made our way to the ballpark. Despite its foreboding name, War Memorial Stadium had a friendly, comfortable atmosphere. This was no doubt helped by virtue of the fact that -- according to the Bats' PR folks -- "The grandstand at the park is North Carolina's largest outdoor sports bar!" They don't say how many outdoor sports bars there are in North Carolina, but there was indeed an actual bar, complete with stools, stretching down the left-field line and curving out into a large deck overlooking the outfield. What's more, it happened to be "dollar beer night" while we were there. Needless to say, we spent most of the game up at the bar, where the view of the game was nearly as good as a box seat anyway. Surprisingly, the grandstand bar stayed open long after the game had ended... and even more surprisingly, the dollar beer promotion continued until closing time. We couldn't think of any reason to go elsewhere. The next day we left Greensboro without having sampled any of the town's other night life... But we had a great time there.
We made an unexpected return to Greensboro in 2005. See this page to find out why!
We've visited Greensboro twice, two years apart.
The first time, in 2003, the Greensboro Bats played in War Memorial Stadium. WMS was one of several stadiums we've been to which have claimed to be "the country's oldest Minor League ballpark!" It was erected in 1926, and I know of a park in Evansville, Indiana which was built in 1915, and one in Williamsport, Pennsylvania that went up in 1923. These also profess to be the "oldest." Looking more deeply into these claims, they usually turn out to mean the oldest park without having been remodeled, or the oldest park to be home for a team in consecutive years, or some other such caveat. But in the end, it doesn't really matter. War Memorial Stadium was an old concrete structure with a healthy dose of character. It's where the "rainout" scene in Bull Durham was filmed ("Oh my goodness... We got ourselves a natural disaster!"), and its stately exterior made a quick appearance in the film as well.
Another Greensboro location used in Bull Durham (briefly) was the Beef Burger drive-in. During a montage scene of the Bulls on a horrific road trip, the team bus is shown parked in front of Beef Burger as a coach carries a bag of burgers out to the bus. That was the extent of the Beef Burger's film career, but being fans of the movie, it was enough for Ron and I to seek the place out and get a picture or two. We ended up discovering some of the tastiest -- and cheapest -- burgers we've ever had. Originally known as "Biff Burger" (the name was changed for legal reasons some years ago), this place has a rich history in Greensboro and is a can't-miss piece of local color.
After enjoying our burgers, we made our way to the ballpark. Despite its foreboding name, War Memorial Stadium had a friendly, comfortable atmosphere. This was no doubt helped by virtue of the fact that -- according to the Bats' PR folks -- "The grandstand at the park is North Carolina's largest outdoor sports bar!" They don't say how many outdoor sports bars there are in North Carolina, but there was indeed an actual bar, complete with stools, stretching down the left-field line and curving out into a large deck overlooking the outfield. What's more, it happened to be "dollar beer night" while we were there. Needless to say, we spent most of the game up at the bar, where the view of the game was nearly as good as a box seat anyway. Surprisingly, the grandstand bar stayed open long after the game had ended... and even more surprisingly, the dollar beer promotion continued until closing time. We couldn't think of any reason to go elsewhere. The next day we left Greensboro without having sampled any of the town's other night life... But we had a great time there.
We made an unexpected return to Greensboro in 2005. See this page to find out why!
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