The Greatest Show on Dirt

Ashveags hit historic McCormick Field Saturday night for one of the first Asheville Tourists games of the baseball season. If you haven’t heard, there have been quite a number of changes at the park. We’ll try to take you on a little tour.

What spurred the changes? The ownership of the park moved from Buncombe County to the city of Ashvegas after the two governments dissolved an agreement last year. At about the same time, the guy who owned the Tourists since ’81 sold the team to Palace Sports and Entertainment, a company that owns the Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Pistons.

All that added up to some big changes at the park. The concessions have changed – the dollar beers on Thirsty Thursday are smaller, there’s no chili or kraut for your hot dogs. But there’s a new outfield wall and a big new scoreboard with a video screen. The trees and vegetation have been mostly stripped from the bank that rings the outfield, but it’s been replanted with grass. There’s some fancy new luxury seating for fans down the first base line, and down the third base line there’s a new area for fans called the Pepsi Pavilion.

There’s still plenty of fun baseball. And while the ambience of the historic field has been somewhat lessened, replaced somewhat with the feel of corporate management, it’s still a lot of fun. It’s still the greatest show on dirt.