Welcome to West End Field, a Fenway wannabe, a mini-replica of the Yawkey Way original, down to the pole, the Monster , and the manual scoreboard. There's even an odd little triangle carved out in center field.
It's the spiffy new home of the Greenville Drive, a Red Sox Single-A minor - league affiliate. The team is a member of the South Atlantic League, playing such opponents as the Hickory Crawdads and the Savannah Sand Gnats. Until the 2005 season, the Drive were a farm team of the New York Mets, playing in Columbia, S.C., as the Capital City Bombers. But Greenville offered the team a good deal, and it was reborn as a Red Sox country cousin. Today, deep in the heart of this bright-red state where conservative values rule is a Southern slice of Red Sox Nation. Of the Sox' five non-rookie league farm teams, only the Greenville Drive are located in the Deep South.
Brad and Natalie Swillen and their three children were at the park for a recent night game, father and 6-year-old son Will wearing their Red Sox caps. ``I'm about as conservative as they come," says Swillen, 34, ``and the Red Sox are from one of the most liberal states. But I've been a Red Sox fan since I was a kid, mainly because Jim Rice was born and raised 30 miles from here." Shoeless Joe Jackson was also from the area, and the city erected a statue in his honor.
It's the first inning, and the Drive score on a home run -- over the Green Monster. Fireworks explode. Reedy Rip-It, the frog mascot in a fuzzy green suit reminiscent of the Red Sox mascot , Wally, works the crowd.
In the bleachers is Spencer Cordts, a medical assistant wearing a Yastrzemski T-shirt and a Red Sox cap. He grew up in Connecticut and moved to Greenville 18 months ago. ``The politics of the locals irk me, but you don't have to be liberal to be a Red Sox fan," he says. Cordts has been to the new park several times since it opened April 6. ``I love it. It's as close to the Fenway experience as you can get south of the Mason-Dixon Line."
