Greenville Drive Baseball

[Greenville]

^

UP needs an emoticon that holds a little crystal ball or tarot cards.

How about a magic 8 ball?

[gs3]

Did anybody make it to the open house? I was by there while it was going on but didn't have time yesterday to go. Looked like a great crowd.

[NYTransplant]

I made it there. I have a couple of photos to upload, but I'm away from the house on my blackberry right now. Hope this works, since its my first try using the BB.

The turnout looked pretty good. I was there with my niece at around 11:00. From what I saw, they really were not highlighting the improvements as much as just having a general open house. Of course they had the season ticket seat "test drives" an there was a bit of food out.

When I get back to the house, I'll put up a photo or two.

[GvilleSC]

G-man asked me to post these, so courtesy of G-man here are shots of West End Field and the newest additions to the ballpark:

New playground:

New party deck:

New gate and BBQ area around Spinx 500 Club:

New sod with brick now at bottom of berm/hill:

The Coca-Cola dugout suite:

Brick Street Lofts under construction in the background:

Field looks great and so does the Field House at West End building behind the green monster:

Skyline shot from Spinx 500 club:

Ballpark from Spinx 500 Club:

Edited March 25, 2007 by GvilleSC

[gs3]

The grass on the field looks picture perfect!

Great shots. Looks like the party deck and Coca Cola dugout suite aren't quite complete yet? Two more weeks though to the home opener. Can't wait!

[NYTransplant]

Nice shots, but why is g-man posting through you? If he has something to post, he should drop his attitude and post them himself.

[NYTransplant]

Since those last photos showed the improvements, here's one more just for fun!

[Galley]

I was there on Sat. picking up tickets for a game in May when my sister and her family come to visit. I dunno what to think of the Coca-Cola Dugout. It doesn't seem like a very good place to watch the game from.

[whitehourseview]

Nice shots, but why is g-man posting through you? If he has something to post, he should drop his attitude and post them himself.

Has he been banned again?

[goodbye]

G-man has been posting, just not on this forum.

[breed]

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/reds...pitching_staff/

Boston Red Sox #5 starter, Jon Lester, is expected to make four starts for Greenville. I'm guessing that Gabe Kapler's presence may help increase the number of major league players that come to Greenville on rehab assignments. That and the fact that the high-A affiliate is now in California, and not Delaware.

[whitehourseview]

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/reds...pitching_staff/

Boston Red Sox #5 starter, Jon Lester, is expected to make four starts for Greenville. I'm guessing that Gabe Kapler's presence may help increase the number of major league players that come to Greenville on rehab assignments. That and the fact that the high-A affiliate is now in California, and not Delaware.

Why would Gabe Kapler's presence increase rehab assignment from Boston? That's not really how the system works.

Most rehab assignments are done at the AA and AAA level anyhow, and for Boston that means Portland, ME and Pawtucket, RI.

[Spartan]

Has he been banned again?

gman is taking a break.

[Greenville]

gman is taking a break.

G-man and UP are on a break.

(A humorous storyline from Friends that hopefully a few of you will appreciate)

[jarvismj]

Slightly off topic here, but the Drive and Greenville were mentioned on NESN tonight in passing.

[breed]

Why would Gabe Kapler's presence increase rehab assignment from Boston? That's not really how the system works.

Most rehab assignments are done at the AA and AAA level anyhow, and for Boston that means Portland, ME and Pawtucket, RI.

Gabe still has a strong relationship with many active players. And while the system may not be designed for rehab to be done at the low-A level, players do have a say in where they do rehab stints.

[whitehourseview]

I've heard it should be ready by April 1st. I've seen a rough idea of the latest layout and it's awesome, more nostalgic and cleaner. The Drive want the new layout to be perfect and more user/fan friendly.

Apparently the Drive's website was not ready in time for April 1st.

[whitehourseview]

Apparently the Drive's website was not ready in time for April 1st.

the website if updated for the start of the season, it's.... ok: http://www.greenvilledrive.com/

[goodbye]

"Okay" is way too kind. I think it is disgusting compared to the previous version. I am hoping that this is not a completed project. I also noticed that it is slow to load, even with high speed cable service. It looks very unprofessional, in my opinion.

[goodbye]

So I tried the link to listen to the games on the internet, but it is broken, apparently. I figured there would be some kind of audio message or at least a popup up window. Just in time for the season to get underway...

Edited April 6, 2007 by Skyliner

[goodbye]

A nice article posted today on GreenvilleOnline.com. With the season getting underway today, Greenville is buzzing with excitement about our beloved game of baseball once again. Gabe Kapler had this to say about West End Field:

"This park is unbelievable," Kapler said, looking around the 2006 Ballpark of the Year. "I really don't know if these guys know how spoiled they are for a first-year long season baseball experience."

He had this to say about Greenville residents in general:

"I have to be honest. I'm a little concerned because you have a downtown that's buzzing with energy. Then to have a ballpark like this with beautiful buildings going up all over the place, I wonder if they're going to become a little like a kid who gets every toy right off the bat. I hope they are able to understand this is special."

Edited April 6, 2007 by Skyliner

[Greenville]

I don't think the website looks too bad. It's not wonderful, but it's not disappointing by any means. It's certainly not as dark as last year's version.

My only complaints: the page was very slow to load, and the page is too wide. Even with the page maximized on my screen, I still had to use a scroll bar to see the entire page left-to-right.

I am glad the Drive are working on improving the website, and I am confident they will perfect it - just like they have with everything else.

[whitehourseview]

I don't think the website looks too bad. It's not wonderful, but it's not disappointing by any means. It's certainly not as dark as last year's version.

My only complaints: the page was very slow to load, and the page is too wide. Even with the page maximized on my screen, I still had to use a scroll bar to see the entire page left-to-right.

I am glad the Drive are working on improving the website, and I am confident they will perfect it - just like they have with everything else.

the Drive's first site at the start of last season was the best one that they had. I realize their business model is to sell the 'experience' of baseball rather than the game itself, which is fine - that's where sports marketing is these days, not my favorite, but that's their call, I just wish there was a place I could go on their site to learn about the team, the South Atlantic League, etc.

[phillytiger]

"Okay" is way too kind. I think it is disgusting compared to the previous version. I am hoping that this is not a completed project. I also noticed that it is slow to load, even with high speed cable service. It looks very unprofessional, in my opinion.

Can someone explain to me how the the new site is unprofessional? Other than being slow to load, which I think will be fixed, I think the new site is great. It's much more organized, brighter, uses some of the nostalgic photos, and the brick is more exposed.

I believe the site is going slow because of the host's server. I'm a huge MiLB fan, and when I was checking a bunch of other teams that Infinity hosts (same as the Drive's new site) they were all very slow to load. I also noticed on the Drive's site that it looks like some of the links on the navigation bar (Lineup) on the left aren't loading, once again probably due to the host server.

Skyliner, the reason the broadcast isn't working is because the link says "Click here to listen to Drive home games." The team is on the road, therefore it's not going to work. I've been listening to the game on the RiverDogs website.

Who else is excited for Opening Day?! Only 4 days!

[whitehourseview]

Can someone explain to me how the the new site is unprofessional? Other than being slow to load, which I think will be fixed, I think the new site is great. It's much more organized, brighter, uses some of the nostalgic photos, and the brick is more exposed.

I believe the site is going slow because of the host's server. I'm a huge MiLB fan, and when I was checking a bunch of other teams that Infinity hosts (same as the Drive's new site) they were all very slow to load. I also noticed on the Drive's site that it looks like some of the links on the navigation bar (Lineup) on the left aren't loading, once again probably due to the host server.

Skyliner, the reason the broadcast isn't working is because the link says "Click here to listen to Drive home games." The team is on the road, therefore it's not going to work. I've been listening to the game on the RiverDogs website.

Who else is excited for Opening Day?! Only 4 days!

If I wanted to learn who the players on the team were, where would I go? How about the coaches?

Speaking of nostalgia, where would I go to learn about Greenville baseball history, like you can on the Augusta Green Jacket site (built by the same company that did the Drive's)? How about the history of the Bombers/ Drive organization? Ownership?

If I was interested in learning about team promotions, say I wanted to know if the Famous Chicken was coming, where would I go on the site for that?

If I wanted to buy team merchandise, how would I do that? I see a link for a fitted hat, I click on it and I go to a white page. Is there an online store?

If I ran a community organization, and wanted to rent a box, buy some group seats, etc, could I easily learn how to do that with the Drive website?

If I wanted to go to other sites of teams in the Red Sox organization, where is that link? In fact, I don't see anything about the Red Sox on that site, or that the Drive are the Low A affiliate of the BoSox. That seems important.

If I was new to the area, or a businessman staying over night with some time on my hands, where are the directions to West End Field?

There were some nice articles in the First Pitch program last year, and I assume that there will be more this year about Drive players, etc. Seems some of those should be archived onlline.

If I wanted to contact someone about having Reedy Rip-It come to my event, etc., where would I learn about that on the website?

Just a few random thoughts on first look of it. I have no doubt that the Drive will have another successful year, probably break last year's Greenville minor league baseball record for attendance and folks will continue to have a good time. Just some of the edges could stand to be polished.