South Atlantic League (1997-2000)
Tombstone
Born: 1997 – Re-branded from Fayetteville Generals
Move Announced: June 1999 (Lakewood BlueClaws)
First Game: April 3, 1997 (W 11-8 @ Augusta GreenJackets)
Last Game: September 4, 2000 (L 1-0 @ Hagerstown Suns)
South Atlantic League Championships: None
Stadium
Ownership & Affiliation
Owners:
- 1997-1999: Greg Padgett
- 1999-2000: Joseph Finley, et al.
Major League Affiliation: Montreal Expos
Attendance
Background
The Cape Fear Crocs were an unloved Fayetteville, North Carolina entry in the Class A South Atlantic League, sponsored by the Montreal Expos from 1997 until 2000. The team was formerly known as the Fayetteville Generals from 1987 to 1996 when it served as a Detroit Tigers affiliate.
A series of changes hit the team between the 1996 and 1997 seasons. The Expos replaced the Tigers as parent club, Greg Padgett purchased the team from his father Charles, and the club re-branded itself as the Cape Fear Crocs.
On the field, the team developed a number of future Major Leaguers during the Expos/Crocs era, headlined by outfielder Milton Bradley (Crocs ’98) and future 2008 American League Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee (Crocs ’00).
The 1999 Crocs advanced to the South Atlantic League championship series where they lost to the Augusta Greenjackets.
Demise & Aftermath
Ultimately, the Crocs couldn’t make a go of it in Fayetteville, citing outdated J.P. Riddle Stadium as a key factor. In June 1999, midway through the Generals/Crocs’ 13th season, Greg Padgett sold the franchise to veteran baseball investor Joseph Finley for $3 million. Finley planned to move the team to Lakewood, New Jersey where it would move into a brand new $20 million ballpark in April 2001. This left the Crocs to play out a full year-and-a-half as a lame duck club in Fayetteville, causing attendance to plummet further.
The Crocs’ final home game on August 28th, 2000 drew an announced attendance of just 187 fans. The club was supposed to have games the next three nights as well, but in a fitting conclusion to a dreadful year all three were washed out by rain.
In 2017, the city of Fayetteville broke ground on $37 million Segra Stadium. The park opened in 2019 and the South Atlantic returned to the city with the Fayetteville Woodpeckers. The Woodpeckers enter their second season in the summer of 2021 after the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the 2020 season.
Cape Fear Crocs Shop
Links
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