The Peninsula Grays were a Class A Carolina League ball club out of Hampton, Virginia during the mid-1960’s. As a Cincinnati Reds farm club from 1964 to 1966, the Grays helped to develop several Big Red Machine stars of the 1970’s. The 1966 Grays club was especially well stocked, featuring teenagers Johnny Bench and Bernie Carbo and a 20-year old Hal McRae.
The Peninsula Whips were a minor league baseball team out of Hampton, Virginia that served as the top farm club of the Montreal Expos in 1972 and 1973. Hampton hosted minor league baseball nearly every season from 1963 through 1992, but typically in the Class A Carolina League. The two-year run of the Whips in the early 70’s marked the only time that Hampton had a Class AAA ball club, just one step below the Major Leagues. Top Whips players included pitcher Steve Rogers (’72 & ’73) and catcher Gary Carter (’73).
The Peninsula Astros were one of nine different minor league baseball teams to rotate through Hampton, Virginia’s War Memorial Stadium during the 30 summers between 1963 and 1992. They were also one of the least durable. The Astros lasted just a single season as a Houston Astros farm club in the summer of ’69. The Philadelphia Phillies took over as parent club in 1970 and, strangely, kept the Astros name for one more summer. In 1971 the team belatedly became the Peninsula Phillies.
Carolina League (1976-1992) Born: 1976 Moved: October 1992 (Wilmington Blue Rocks) First Game: April 16, 1976 (W 7-3 vs. Salem Pirates) Last Game: September 8, 1992
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