page_title: Herschel Greer Stadium
section_title: Expansion (1979–1989)
hierarchical_section_title: Herschel Greer Stadium / History / Expansion (1979–1989)
caption_attribution_description: A view of the press box at Greer Stadium
context_page_description: Herschel Greer Stadium was a Minor League Baseball park in Nashville, Tennessee, on the grounds of Fort Negley, an American Civil War fortification, approximately two miles south of the city's downtown district. The facility closed at the end of the 2014 baseball season and remained deserted for over four years until its demolition in 2019. Following the completion of the demolition project and an archaeological survey, the land is expected to be reincorporated into Fort Negley Park.
  Greer was opened in 1978 for the Nashville Sounds, an expansion franchise of the Double-A Southern League who moved to the Triple-A American Association in 1985 and to the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in 1998. The stadium played host to the team until 2014. The subject of numerous upgrades and repairs to maintain its functionality, Greer became one of the oldest stadiums used by a Triple-A team and had fallen well below professional baseball's standards for a stadium at that class level by the end of its use.
context_section_description: 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. The ballpark's all-time attendance record was set on August 18, 1982, when 22,315 people watched the Sounds defeat the Columbus Astros, 3–0. Portions of the outfield had to be roped off to accommodate the crowd, which was far in excess of Greer's seating capacity.
  From February through mid-summer 1984, major renovations and additions were made to the facility. 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 additional members of the media, two separate booths for home and visiting radio broadcasts, and two 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.
  In July 1984, Schmittou purchased the Triple-A Evansville Triplets of the American Association. The team moved from Evansville to Nashville for the 1985 season, upon which the Triplets' legacy was retired and the franchise adopted the Sounds' name and history, effectively elevating the organization from Double-A to Triple-A. The Double-A Southern League franchise was moved to Huntsville, Alabama, where the team began play as the Huntsville Stars at the hastily constructed Joe W. Davis Stadium.
  To prepare for the move to Triple-A, renovations continued prior to the 1985 season 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 other American Association baseball games.
  Schmittou's desire to land a Triple-A team was part of a larger plan to put Nashville in a position to contend for a Major League Baseball franchise in the future. 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 percent, 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 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.
caption: A new press box, restaurant, and sky boxes were built in 1984.
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