Hickory Crawdads History

 

 I have always been intrigued by the nickname of the Hickory Crawdads, so I contacted Crystal Lin who is Director of Creative Services with the Crawdads. I asked if she could give me a little Crawdads history and how the team came to be known as the Crawdads. Lin gave me a little history lesson, the Hickory Crawdads play at L.P. Fran Stadium, named after the local Pepsi-Cola bottler who partially funded the stadium’s construction. The stadium was built on donated land in 1993 and the first game played at L.P. Frans Stadium took place on April 16, 1993. The Crawdads were originally affiliated with the Chicago White Sox (1993-1998), then the Pittsburgh Pirates (1999-2008), and finally the Texas Rangers (2009-present). The current ownership group consists of Don Beaver, Luther Beaver, and Charles Young. Together they comprise the majority ownership since the team originated and are also the longest-serving ownership group in the South Atlantic League. Upon purchasing a minor league baseball team from Gastonia, NC Don Beaver moved the franchise to his hometown of Hickory, NC. The team nickname was born after Beaver launched a “name the team and mascot” contest. Todd Teague named the team “Hickory Crawdads” with Conrad the Crawdad named mascot, along with his partner Candy the Crawdad.

During their tenure in Hickory, the Crawdads have won three SAL Championships (2002, 2004, and 2015) and have hosted three SAL All-Star Games (1994, 2001 and 2014).

In 2014, the Crawdads in conjunction with the City of Hickory, underwent a $2.5 million renovation, the first major upgrade since its initial construction. Many of the areas that impact fan experience were addressed:

 

    ·   All new "Reserve" flip down seats with cup holders, replacing the     existing grandstand, reserve and box seats

                   ·    New limited "VIP" seating section

   ·    New additional Picnic Pavilion located in the old 1^st base grandstand seats

·    Three new Party Patios

·    Renovated suites

·    Completely renovated Crawdads Café

·    New signage throughout the ballpark

·    New stadium field lights

·    Resurfaced stadium concourse and parking lot

·    Renovated front office

Here are a few of the outstanding former Crawdads: Magglio Ordonez, Jose Bautista, Carlos Lee, and Andrew McCutchen.