Kinston, NC

Park # 64

What I Remember

I had never heard of Kinston, North Carolina before I put together the schedule for our trip and thus did not know what to expect from this city in eastern North Carolina. What we found was a beautiful old ballpark and some really nice people. Grainger Stadium is one of the few old classic minor league parks that is still in use – the Down East Wood Ducks, formerly of the Carolina League, now part of the dubiously-named collection of teams called, Low-A East, play at Grainger each summer.

North Johnson was the GM of the Kinston Indians during our trip. He was gracious then and 29 years later still was. North and I had a fascinating conversation on my podcast this time last year.

The Game

Kinston Indians 3 Salem Buccaneers 2

Kinston scored twice in the bottom of the 8th to come from behind and win this game. As you will hear in the podcast, the Kinston Indians were one of the best teams in all of minor league baseball that year, they finished 40 games over .500 and went on to win the Carolina League championship.

The Box: (Click the arrows to see more images)

The Video: