Looks like my baseball trip choice this season has been made for me, as the 2011 season will be the last for professional baseball in Kinston, NC.Today's announcement is that the AA Carolina Mudcats (based in Zebulon NC) will be moving their Southern League franchise to a new ballpark in Pensacola, Florida for the 2012 season.
That will be followed by the Kinston Indians moving their High A Carolina League team to Zebulon and will become the new Carolina Mudcats and leaving Kinston without a team.
Kinston was in the Carolina League's smallest market and accordingly was usually at the bottom of attendance as they finished last in the league in 2010 finishing roughly 34,000 fans behind 7th place Lynchburg in attendance.-Any of this sound familiar to Hagerstown Suns fans?
Another alarm bell that rang that I didn't notice was the recent move by well respected Kinston GM (and Kinston native, I believe) Shari Massengill to become the Asst.GM of the AAA Gwinnett County Braves.
That makes me think that locally this move was known to be coming.
I feel bad for the people of Kinston as I don't see the town having the size to attract a new team or that the aging Grainger Stadium is the type of facility to grab a team either, but as unfortunate as it is,this is the financial part of the game that continues to creep lower and lower into the minors.
So, whoever plans on going with me on my 2011 trip, it looks like I'll be building around Kinston and going from there.....
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