Grainger Stadium is a small minor-league baseball park that has been hosting professional baseball in Kinston, on and off, since 1949. It is now home to the Down East Wood Ducks, the Texas Rangers' Single-A affiliate, with a season that runs April through September. The ballpark seats around 4,100 and retains a deeply old-school feel — covered grandstand, bleacher seats, hand-operated scoreboard.
Several future Major League players have come through Kinston including names like B. J. Surhoff, Brady Anderson, and Manny Ramirez. Tickets are inexpensive and the game-day atmosphere is small-town American at its best. Even off-season, the park is worth a wander past — it sits at the edge of the historic Hill-Grainger district.