The Battle of I-40: Greensboro vs. Winston-Salem

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GREENSBORO ― We're calling it the I-40 Rivalry, this new series between the Greensboro Grasshoppers and the Winston-Salem Dash in the reimagined minor leagues of 2021.

And why not? It's a 29.3-mile drive between First National Bank Field in Greensboro and Truist Stadium in Winston-Salem, with 11.75 of those miles on Interstate-40 and 14.29 miles on Business-40.

It's a similar route the old teams could've taken 53 years ago, the last time the franchises played.

Oh, sure, there are plenty of differences.

Back then, I-40 was under construction. Greensboro was still the eastern terminus of the highway first designated as an interstate in 1957.

The road was still a work in progress in 1968. The section of I-40 between Winston-Salem and Statesville wasn't even done, and no interstate at all went to Raleigh, making it one of six American state capitals not yet connected to an interstate.

In 1968, the Greensboro Patriots played at War Memorial Stadium on Yanceyville Street, and the Winston-Salem Red Sox played at Ernie Shore Field near Wake Forest University, a ballpark built in 1956 and named for the Forsyth County sheriff who once upon a time was a teammate of Babe Ruth.

Neither the Patriots ― who were affiliated with the Houston Astros in '68 ― nor the Red Sox were very good that year.

Brandy Davis managed Greensboro to a 61-79 record, while manager Bill Slack led Winston-Salem to a 56-81 season.

Jack McKeon led the unaffiliated Hi-Toms, who still play games at Finch Field in Thomasville, to the league championship that season.

Back then, the Class-A Carolina League was compact. Eight of the 12 teams in the league were based in North Carolina, the other four in Virginia. The longest road trips were to Norfolk and Newport News, Va., or down east to Kinston.

It was a simpler time in some ways, according to the men who played in Greensboro in the 1960s.

Ron Paul, a center fielder for Greensboro in 1964, said the players liked the small geographic footprint.

"Back then the Carolina League was known as 'The Married Man's League,'" Paul told me during a reunion of the '64 team a few years ago. "Because we only ever stayed overnight when we went to places like Rocky Mount and Wilson. The married guys would come home every night after our games in Raleigh and Durham and Burlington and Winston-Salem."

That's a far cry from the new High-A East. Major League Baseball's hostile takeover of the minor leagues brought Greensboro and Winston-Salem together again, but it also placed the Grasshoppers and Dash in the same South Division as the Bowling Green Hot Rods.

That's a 487-mile, 8-plus-hour ride from Greensboro into a different time zone.

But that's another story ...

This story is about a next-door rivalry resuming after more than a half-century. The Hoppers and Dash will play 24 games in all this summer, 12 at First National Bank Field and 12 at Truist Stadium.

It's a short ride for the teams and a short ride for the fans.

TODAY'S PROSPECTS

And it's a matchup of some of the top prospects in the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago White Sox farm systems.

Four of Pittsburgh's top 10 prospects, according to MLB Pipeline's rankings, are playing for Greensboro this season: No. 2 Nick Gonzales, No. 3 Quinn Priester, No. 5 Liover Peguero and No. 7 Tahnaj Thomas.

Second baseman Gonzales and shortstop Peguero have both been limited by injuries so far. Gonzales is out until at least late June with a broken pinky finger on his right hand, while Peguero has played just seven of the first 24 games because of a bruised knee.

Priester, a 20-year-old right-hander (2-2, 3.18 ERA), and Thomas, a 21-year-old right-hander (0-1, 3.95 ERA), are the top two starters in Greensboro's talented six-man rotation. All six, by the way, are rated among Pittsburgh's top 30 prospects.

The rest of the rotation features No. 11 right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski (0-1, 1.42 ERA), No. 22 right-hander Braxton Ashcraft (1-0, 1.65 ERA), No. 24 left-hander Omar Cruz (0-3, 3.55 ERA) and No. 29 right-hander Michael Burrows (0-1, 1.13 ERA).

Through 23 games, the Hoppers' starting rotation boasts a 2.54 ERA and 110 strikeouts in 92 innings of work.

“Man, it’s a special group," Hoppers manager Kieran Mattison said. "I’ve been around pro ball for awhile now, and to run six arms out there that all have strong potential to be in a big-league rotation someday, it’s pretty special and a lot of fun to watch. I’ve talked with the managers from other teams, and I’ve heard, ‘You guys are running out a good starting pitcher every night.’ And it’s true. We’re looking forward to getting these guys built up so they can go deeper into games later in the season.”

Right now, after a year away from competitive games because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Hoppers' starting pitchers are working under strict pitch counts. The goal is 65 to 80 pitches per outing.

“We don’t want to jump the gun and get these guys built up too early," Mattison said. "But I think that’s the same everywhere in every organization.”

As for Winston-Salem, the Dash have five of Chicago's top 30 prospects, according to MLB Pipeline.

Yolbert Sanchez, a 20-year-old slick-fielding shortstop from Cuba, leads that group at No. 17.

The rest of the Dash's top 30 are No. 20 right-handed reliever Caleb Freeman (1-1, 1.08 ERA), No. 21 outfielder Bryce Bush, No. 23 infielder Lenyn Sosa and No. 30 outfielder Luis Mieses.

YESTERDAY'S PROSPECTS

The last time Greensboro and Winston-Salem played, the teams' rosters included 20 future big leaguers: 12 for the Patriots and eight for the Red Sox.

That's a lot. To put that in perspective, eight players from Greensboro's star-studded 2011 South Atlantic League championship team have reached the major leagues.

Of the future major leaguers on those 1968 teams, the most successful were:

• Greensboro first baseman John Mayberry, who went on to be a two-time American League All-Star in 15 years, and he was the runner-up (to Fred Lynn) for the 1975 MVP award when he batted .291 with 34 home runs and a league-high 119 RBIs for the Kansas City Royals.
• Greensboro pitcher Ken Forsch, a right-hander who worked as both a starter and reliever, and was a two-time All-Star during his 16 years with the Astros and Angels. Forsch finished with 114 wins and 51 saves and a career 3.37 ERA.
• Greensboro pitcher Wayne Twitchell, who pitched for five teams in a 10-year big-league career. The right-hander made the 1973 All-Star team when he went 13-9 with five shutouts for the Phillies.
• Winston pitcher John Curtis, a lefty who starred at Clemson before turning pro. He compiled a 3.96 career ERA in 15 seasons split between five big-league teams.
• Winston pitcher Bill "Spaceman" Lee, who was a legendary free spirit and philosopher. Lee went 119-90 with a 3.62 ERA in 14 seasons with the Red Sox and Expos. The left-hander was a 17-game winner three years in a row for Boston, including an All-Star season in 1973.

In his career at the News & Record, journalist Jeff Mills won 10 national and 12 state writing awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors, the Society for Features Journalism, and the N.C. Press Association.