Savannah SandGnats to be the new team in Columbia, SC

Those who follow Minor League Baseball a bit, knew that Columbia in South Carolina would get a new team. The construction of the new stadium is well underway and it is supposed to be ready in 2016.
In the meantime there was a name the team contest organized and the new name of the team will be announced during spring 2015.
For a long time the question remained which team would move to become the Columbia ….  For a long time the owners of the Savannah SandGnats and the Fort Wayne TinCaps remained silent about which team would be moved. When you look to the attendance figures the TinCaps drew well over 400,000 in 2014 while the SandGnats drew a bit more than 124,000. Besides that the owners of the SandGnats have been asking for a new stadium for a long time (hey what’s new?) while the city of Savannah has spent millions to improve the current stadium.

Without their wishes granted and with just over 124,000 fans that passed the turnstiles last year, the SandGnats will be the team on the move. Sad thing about this move is that they will leave a gem of a stadium behind. Grayson Stadium was originally built in 1926 but was destroyed by a hurricane in 1940. The place was rebuilt and opened in 1941.

Maybe I am just nostalgic, but what is wrong about playing at a place like this?    

This facility should be cherished. Compared to modern stadiums it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles. But this places breathes baseball and it should be rewarded with a team instead of being left alone.

To me this is proof of another owner that is greedy and opts the easy way out. Could it be that the club is just mismanaged? True most of the other teams have newer stadiums, but a real baseball fan should not care about that. It is about the atmosphere. It’s the fans that make the atmosphere. And the owner should do everything possible to lure the fans into the stadium. If he does not succeed to do so, you can wonder if he is doing a good job.

With the SandGnats leaving in 2016, Grayson Stadium will be without a tennant. I hope that the place will be home to another (pro) team soon. Luckily the place will be used by the Savannah State University college baseball team, so it will be in use for sure.