Tag: William Van Buren Jr.

Peninsula Grays Carolina League Baseball

Peninsula Grays

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.

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1969 Peninsula Astros baseball program from the Carolina League

Peninsula Astros

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.

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