William L. Grayson Stadium is a

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...

. It is primarily used for

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

, and is the home field of the Savannah Bananas, an

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

baseball team. It was the part-time home of the Savannah State University college baseball team from 2009 to 2011. It was also used from 1927 until 1959 for the annual Thanksgiving Day game between Savannah High School and Benedictine Military School. Known as "Historic Grayson Stadium", it was built in 1926. It holds 5,000 people. It also served as the home of the Savannah Sand Gnats from 1984 to 2015 (known as the Cardinals until 1996).

History

Originally known as Municipal Stadium, it first served as the home field of the

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

Savannah Indians The Savannah Pathfinders was the original name of the American minor league baseball franchise that represented Savannah, Georgia, during the 20th century. While Savannah's minor league teams sported at least ten nicknames during the century, ...

. In 1932, it hosted the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

for

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

. The park underwent major renovations in 1941, following a devastating hurricane in 1940.

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

veteran General William L. Grayson led the effort to get the $150,000 needed to rebuild the stadium. Half of the funds came from the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

(WPA). In recognition of Grayson's work, the stadium was renamed in his honor. The first integrated

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its h ...

game took place at Grayson Stadium on April 14, 1953. The park went through a two-year renovation process that started prior to the 2007 season. Under the Bananas, another round of renovation happened in 2023-24 giving the stadium an additional 1,000 outfield seats - for a total of 5,000 overall and a modernized classic grandstand appearance in preparation for its centennial in 2026. At home plate level, the old bleacher seats in the grandstand used for many years were replaced by stadium-style bucket seating. A video wall is expected to be added in 2025 in the outfield area. In 2020, the Savannah Bananas removed all advertisements from Grayson Stadium. Grayson Stadium was the venue for the 2017 GHSA Baseball Championships for Class 1A Private, Class 2A, Class 3A, and Class 5A. It was also used for the 2018 and 2019 GHSA Baseball Championships.

Timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:750 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1926 till:2045 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:powderblue from:1926 till:1928 text:Savannah Indians (1926-1928) bar:2 color:powderblue from:1936 till:1942 text:Savannah Indians (1936-1942) bar:3 color:powderblue from:1946 till:1953 text:Savannah Indians (1946-1953) bar:4 color:powderblue from:1956 till:1958 text:Savannah Athletics (1956-1958) bar:5 color:powderblue from:1959 till:1959 text:Savannah Redlegs (1959) bar:6 color:powderblue from:1960 till:1960 text:Savannah Pirates (1960) bar:7 color:powderblue from:1962 till:1962 text:Savannah White Sox (1962) bar:8 color:powderblue from:1968 till:1969 text:Savannah Senators (1968-1969) bar:9 color:powderblue from:1970 till:1970 text:Savannah Indians (1970) bar:10 color:powderblue from:1971 till:1983 text:Savannah Braves (1971-1983) bar:11 color:powderblue from:1984 till:1995 text:Savannah Cardinals (1984-1995) bar:12 color:powderblue from:1996 till:2015 text:Savannah Sand Gnats (1996-2015) bar:13 color:powderblue from:2016 till:2024 text:Savannah Bananas (2016-Present) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:10 start:1926

References

External links

The Savannah Bananas

* Stadium Journey: Grayson Stadium {{coord, 32, 2, 41, N, 81, 4, 44, W, display=title Minor league baseball venues Baseball venues in Georgia (U.S. state) Works Progress Administration in Georgia (U.S. state) Savannah State Tigers baseball Negro league baseball venues 1926 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Sports venues completed in 1926 College baseball venues in the United States Boston Red Sox spring training venues Sports venues in Savannah, Georgia