Herschel Greer Stadium - History

History

When Larry Schmittou decided to bring professional baseball back to Nashville in the late 1970s, he knew he would have to build a new ballpark for his team. He negotiated a lease with the city for a plot of land at the foot of St. Cloud Hill on the grounds of Fort Negley, an American Civil War fortification, approximately two miles (three km) south of downtown. The city was prepared to lease him the land, but Schmittou would be responsible for building the stadium and paying the property taxes.

The projected construction cost of the stadium was between $300,000 and $500,000; but the actual cost was over $1 million. Schmittou looked to local suppliers to donate construction materials, took out a $30,000 loan from a bank, and even mortgaged his own home to help pay for the ballpark. Country music star Conway Twitty helped Schmittou bring in fellow stars Jerry Reed, Richard Sterban, and Cal Smith as well as other members of the Nashville community as team shareholders. The stadium was posthumously named for Herschel Lynn Greer, a prominent Nashville businessman and the first president of the Nashville Vols baseball team, whose family donated $25,000 for stadium construction.

The home opener for Greer's first tenants, the Southern League's Nashville Sounds, Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, was scheduled for April 25, 1978. Construction was underway, but Schmittou knew the ballpark would not be ready by that date. The team requested to open the season with road games and had to swap a series with the Chattanooga Lookouts in order to have more time to complete the stadium. Even with this extra time, the ballpark was still behind schedule. The sod, which arrived late, was laid and rolled the day before the scheduled opening game with the help of an estimated group of 50 fans who heard an announcement on local radio stations by general manager Farrell Owens inviting them to a "sod party".

The Sounds' home opener, scheduled for April 25, was rained out and pushed back to April 26. After playing their first ten games away from home, and with tractors and grading machines still preparing the field on game day, the Sounds played their first home game at Herschel Greer Stadium on April 26, 1978. The 12–4 victory against the Savannah Braves was witnessed by a sellout crowd of 8,156 spectators. Southern League president Billy Hitchcock was on hand to witness the event, and Conway Twitty threw out the first pitch.

Initially, Greer was capable of seating 7,200 spectators, but was expanded to 8,800 by the end of the inaugural season. Theater-type seats with back support and armrests accounted for 3,000 of the stadium's seats; bleacher seats made up the remainder. The press box included two radio broadcast booths and an organ booth. There were locker rooms for two teams, which each accommodated 25 people, as well as a locker room for umpires. The field measured 330 feet (100 m) down the left and right field lines, 375 feet (114 m) to left- and right-center fields, and 405 feet (123 m) to center field. Eight lighting grids atop steel poles 100 feet (30 m) high provided illumination for night games. Amenities for customers at the park included two men's and women's restrooms and seven concession stands.

With the addition of 5,000 permanent seats, Greer's seating capacity was increased to 13,000 for the 1979 season. Improvements to the playing field included new irrigation and drainage systems which raised the field 5 feet (1.5 m) above its previous elevation. Prior to the 1981 season, Greer underwent a number of renovations including the addition of over 1,200 box seats and over 1,000 new general admission seats. Two wooden general admission seating areas were replaced by 2,000 contoured seats. The original backstop which consisted of several steel poles was upgraded to a steel cable system, eliminating most of the poles. Other stadium upgrades included two new dugouts, three entrance and exit ramps, a new sound system, doubling the size of the reader panel on the scoreboard, and enlarging the ticket booth.

From February through mid-summer 1984, major renovations and additions were made to the stadium. A full service restaurant, The Hall of Fame Stadium Club, and a mini-roof, to cover the last five rows of the reserved seating section and the main concourse, were built. A new press box included accommodations for members of the media, 2 separate booths for home and visiting radio broadcasts, and 2 separate booths for home and visiting television broadcasts. Ten sky boxes were built adjacent the press box; by 1989, the number of sky boxes had increased to 18.

Renovations continued in 1985 with the addition of 1,200 box seats, which replaced some of the reserved grandstand seating, as well as more seating past the right field foul pole. A 4-line scoreboard 10 feet (3.0 m) high replaced the stadium's original, which was relocated to far left field to serve as an out-of-town scoreboard, providing scores for American League, National League, and American Association baseball games.

Schmittou wanted "to put Nashville in contention for a future major league team." Along with this goal, the need for more seating, and a desire to make Greer a more attractive ballpark, significant renovations began after the 1987 season. The number of box seats was increased by 40%, the clubhouse and umpire facilities were upgraded, and the dugouts were entirely rebuilt. The new dugouts took up slightly more room than the previous ones, resulting in a minor contraction of the field's dimensions: 327 feet (100 m) down the left and right field lines, 371 feet (113 m) to left and right-center fields, and 400 feet (120 m) to center field. The stadium's main concourse entrance was redesigned to incorporate the stonemasonry of the adjacent Fort Negley. This expansion brought Greer's total seating capacity up to 18,000.

Greer's distinctive guitar-shaped scoreboard was installed behind the left-center field wall prior to the 1993 season. Another addition in 1993 was that of a second team to play at Greer. From 1993 to 1994, the ballpark simultaneously served as the home field for the Sounds and the Nashville Xpress, the Double-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins which played in the Southern League. This came about when Charlotte, North Carolina acquired a Triple-A expansion franchise in 1993, leaving the city's Double-A team, the Charlotte Knights, without a home. Sounds President Larry Schmittou offered Greer Stadium as a temporary home for the team. In order to accommodate another club at Greer, the Xpress scheduled its home games during the Sounds' road trips. This marked the first time since the New York Mets and Yankees shared Shea Stadium in 1975 that two teams shared a facility. Baseball America ranked the dual Nashville teams as number one on its list of the "top ten happenings in minor league baseball." In 1995, the Xpress relocated to Wilmington, North Carolina and became the Port City Roosters.

Over $200,000 was spent on renovations in the fall and winter before the 1995 season. The home clubhouse and weight room were remodeled, aisles behind the dugouts were resurfaced to reduce slippery areas, and the entire playing field was re-sodded. This was the first replacement and upgrading of the field since the original sod was laid in 1978. First, all of the old grass was stripped from the field. Then, the grounds crew installed a new drainage system. Four trenches were dug and laid with 2,500 feet (760 m) of drainage pipe to carry water away from the field and beyond the center field wall. A layer of gravel was laid over the pipe, and a 4-to-6-inch (10 to 15 cm) layer of sand was placed above the gravel. After raising the level of the infield dirt and brick warning track to the same height of the new field, 100,000 square feet (9,300 m²) of Tifton 419 Bermuda Grass was installed on the field and edged into a baseball diamond configuration.

In the 2000s decade, following the construction of newer, relatively luxurious minor league ballparks, Greer has fallen below standards set for Triple-A stadiums by professional baseball. The aging stadium was not meant to last longer than 30 years, and has been the subject of many renovations to meet Triple-A standards. The Sounds had originally planned on leaving Greer for a new ballpark in the early 2000s decade. Opening day at the proposed new venue was repeatedly pushed back, eventually to as late as 2008. After years of the Sounds lobbying for a new park and threatening to leave town (either for the suburbs or a new location altogether), the Nashville Metro Council approved a new stadium on February 7, 2006. It was to be called First Tennessee Field and was planned for construction on the west bank of the Cumberland River in downtown Nashville, just 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Greer. However, the Sounds and private developers Struever Brothers, Eccles, & Rouse were unable to finalize financing and design plans for the new stadium by the April 15, 2007, deadline set by the Metro Council. As a result, the First Tennessee Field construction project was canceled.

Prior to the 2008 season, more than $1 million in upgrades and repairs were made to the stadium. The improvements, which included a new clubhouse, improved field lighting, and improvements to restrooms, walkways, and seating, were made in order to keep the stadium functional for another three to five years.

MFP Baseball, which purchased the Sounds in early 2009, invested over $2 million to make repairs and upgrades to the aging stadium's playing field, restrooms, concession stands, scoreboard, sound system, and seating. The infield was re-sodded and leveled, protective railing was installed along the edge of the field, and the backstop netting was replaced. The entire concourse and guitar scoreboard were repainted, broken seats were replaced, and Sluggers Sports Bar & Grill was remodeled. A permanent concert stage and a family fun zone were constructed by the concourse entrance. As of August 2010, the team has identified three sites around Nashville under consideration for the location of a new ballpark: the area south of Korean Veterans Boulevard in the SoBro (South of Broadway) district, the former Polar Ice property at 11th Avenue and Charlotte Avenue, and the parking lot that was once the location of Sulphur Dell. Team officials expect a deal for a new ballpark to be in place by spring 2011.