From an email I received this morning:Baseball America Recognizes Grasshoppers with Bob Freitas Award
Greensboro, N.C. - The Greensboro Grasshoppers franchise has been recognized for its outstanding 2008 season and continued contribution to the Piedmont Triad and Minor League Baseball by being selected as the winner of Baseball America’s 2008 Bob Freitas Award for the Single-A level. The award was announced in the most recent Baseball America publication.
The Freitas Awards, in honor of longtime minor league ambassador Bob Freitas, are awarded to franchises that show sustained excellence in the business of Minor League Baseball.
Key contributing award elements consist of attendance, long-term consistency and commitment to the community. No franchise can win the Freitas Award until it has been in operation for at least five years.
“The Bob Freitas Award is one of the most prestigious awards in Minor League Baseball and we are honored and humbled to have been selected,” said Grasshoppers President and General Manager Donald Moore.
“It is a tribute to the tremendous support we have received from the community and our dedication to making NewBridge Bank Park an outstanding venue.”
In 2008 the Grasshoppers played host to a successful South Atlantic League All-Star game, drawing a crowd of 8,367 fans. The Grasshoppers finished the 2008 season with an attendance of 440,787 and have welcomed over 1,715,000 fans to NewBridge Bank Park, drawing over 400,000 fans in each of its first four years at the new downtown ballpark.
"Two of the most important things we try to honor with our Freitas Awards are franchise stability and commitment to the community,” said Editor and Chief of Baseball America Will Lingo.
"Greensboro made the best of its situation in War Memorial Stadium, which was one of the oldest ballparks in professional baseball. Opening the new ballpark not only energized the franchise but also the community and they have become one of the best draws in the minors.
"It was a great opportunity for us to recognize a franchise that has been a steady presence for almost three decades, yet has taken a quantum leap forward in the last few years.”
Moore will proudly accept the Baseball America Bob Freitas Award, South Atlantic League Club Merit Award and General Manager of the Year Award during a luncheon at the Baseball Winter Meetings next week in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Grasshoppers have welcomed over 1,715,000 fans to NewBridge Bank Park, drawing over 400,000 fans in each of its first four years at the new downtown ballpark. The team is the proud recipient of both the South Atlantic League’s Club Merit Award and the General Manager of the Year Award for the past four years.
Season tickets and advertising packages are now on sale for the 2009 season. For more information, please contact the Grasshoppers office at 336.268.BALL or visit www.gsohoppers.com.
Over 400,000 fans a year the first four years in the new park? Nifty.
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