RiverDogs honoring Mayor Riley at The Joe - Charleston Post Courier
There’s little doubt that without Riley there wouldn’t be a ballpark on the banks of the Ashley River that is home to both the RiverDogs of the South Atlantic League and the Citadel Bulldogs. The RiverDogs will honor Riley for his 40 years of service and dedication to the city and the game of baseball on Friday night in a ceremony before the club’s game with the Delmarva Shorebirds. He won the mayor’s seat in 1975 and has remained Charleston’s mayor since. He has announced that he will not seek an 11th term and his run as the city’s longest-tenured mayor will come to a close in early 2016. “I wasn’t here when The Joe was first built, but it’s my understanding that there wouldn’t be a ballpark... Riley and former Citadel president Claudius “Bud” Watts were driving forces behind bringing a new baseball facility to downtown Charleston in 1997, which has become known as “The Joe” around the Lowcountry. The city was in desperate need of a new, modern baseball facility in the 1990s. Both The Citadel and the minor league baseball teams had been sharing College Park, which first opened in 1939. “Mayor Riley was extremely instrumental in getting the... Source: www.postandcourier.com
