Schilling fanned batters long ago here and Clay Parrish sent balls out of park.
It's been 19 years since Curt Schilling led the South Atlantic League with 189 strikeouts for the season while playing for the old Greensboro Hornets, which became the Bats and now the Grasshoppers.
He averaged about one whiff an inning. Yet, he was playing for a team that finished last in the league. His personal record was eight wins and 15 loses.
That was 1987. Neary age 40, Schilling remains on the mound, pitching for the Boston Red Sox. He's sending opposing batters back to the dugout with lumber on their shoulders. His record as of Friday was 12 wins and three loses.
No Grasshopper will probably match Schilling's Greesnsboro strike-out mark this season.
And Clay Parrish can rest in peace where ever he's buried. His homerun record appears immortal, although you'll find no mention of it in the banners around First Horizon Park.
The banners trace the history of minor league ball in Greensboro starting in 1902, when local businessmen brought the pro game to the city.
The banners mention such players as Don Buddin, who hit 25 homers in 1953, before going on to a career with the Boston Red Sox, and Guy Morton on the same team, who knocked 32 out of the park. Jason Kinchen in 2001 hit 30 homers, according to the banners.
And the late Emo Showfety, who many remember as the muscular salesman at old Wright's Clothing Co. downtown, hit 80 homeruns during the 1947, 1948 and 1949 seasons with the Patriots. His 1949 total of 35 was thought to be a team record.
But that apparently belongs to Parrish, even though his name doesn't appear on the banners. He played for the Greensboro Patriots when the team played its home games at Cone Athletic Park.
In 1929, during the team's last season at Cone before moving to War Memorial Stadium (where it remained until 2004), Parrish clouted 50 homeruns, according to news stories from the time.
Little is remembered about Parrish. Ralph Hodgin, 91, of Greensboro, who played for six Major League seasons in the 1930s and 1940s, played games as a boy in Cone Park and attended Patriot games. He only vaguely remembers the name Parrish.
But he says 50 homers wouldn't have been unbelievable, not at Cone.
"I could hit 'em out of there before I was out high school," says Hodgin, who remembers not much distance between home plate and the outfield fences.
Hodgin's close friend, Jim Evans, 92, of Kernersville, says he may have played against Parrish in the industrial leagues of High Point in the 1920s. He remembers a Moose Parrish, who Evans believes went on to play minor league ball.
"I remember he was a heavy hitter," he says. "He really could hit the ball a long way."
Despite First Horizon Park being friendly to long-ball hitters, Grasshopper sluggers want catch Clay Parrish this season. Kris Harvey leads the team in home runs with 15.
As for Schilling, his strikeout mark seems safe, too, at least for this season. With more than a month to go, Aaron Thompson of Greensboro has 98.
Considering today's hurlers pitch only every fifth day (compared to four in the past) and most don't pitch a complete nine-inning game, it would be difficult for any league pitcher to match Schlling
'87 record.
Or for that matter his 2006 mark. The old player already has whiffed 126 batters, fourth in the American League. The league leader is Joe Santana of Minnesota with 152.