Kinston Indians

The Kinston Indians, a Single A affiliate of Cleveland, play at Grainger Stadium. This stadium was built in 1949 and was completely redone in 2001 & 2002 using the original steel structure. It is a really great Single A field with current day features in an old time setting. It seats 5,000 with an attendance of 837 tonight. Weather was not predicted as being very good and that prediction held true. In the top of the 5th inning a rainstorm came through and the tarp was put on the field. After a 1 hour and 12 minutes rain delay the game started up again. I was impressed with the drainage system. At the edge of the left field side of the tarp a drain field has been built. When it was time to remove the tarp, plugs in the ground were pulled, the tarp was reversed dumping all the water on top of the tarp in the area of the drain system, and the grounds crew then pushed the rainwater with large rollers to the drain holes. The Indians, nick-named K-Tribe, were playing the Wilmington (DE) Blue Rocks. The Blue Rocks won 6-2. The Box score was Blue Rocks R-6, H-10, E-1 and Indians R-2, H-5, E-2. The field lines are RF-335', CF-390', and LF-335'. A new feature for the trip was the video board which for the home team displays the following each time a K-Tribe player comes up on three different screens: 1st name & home town, 2nd stats for the game, and 3rd stats for the year. There was a little league group from Childrens Village Academy, 5 & 6 years old. Gloria Carr-Battle is their Athletic Director. This was a Thirsty Thursday $1 8oz beer night. Scott, a dog, is the mascot. This is a smoking-allowed stadium. We would like to thank the Kinston City Manager and his wife for taking care of us at the game and getting Jim a Carolina League game ball. Before the game we received a call from Chris Hemeyer of WCTI Channel 12 who wanted to interview us. He joined us before the game and filmed us buying our tickets, interviewed us inside the stadium, and filmed Jim as he took pictures and got the food prices. We will be featured on a sports segment that he is doing about fans at Kinston. One fan has been coming for many, many years and now his grandchildren are fans. Chris is filming the game in the picture I took behind home plate. We went to Chaps BBQ Restaurant out in the country for a great chicken BBQ lunch. I learned in 2009 that this restaurant is no longer open. This team folded in 2011. In 2017 a new team, the Down East Wood Ducks, affiliated with Texas Rangers returned to Kinston. 2013--Affiliated with Texas. Low A playing in East League, Central Division.