Spectator Sports

Asheville is home to its own professional baseball team, the Asheville Tourists. Playing in the minor league, in the Southern Atlantic division, they face such opponents as the Augusta Greenjackets, Columbus Catfish, Lexington Legends, Savannah Sand Giants and West Virginia Power. McCormick Field, the Tourists’ home turf, is named after Dr. Lewis M. McCormick, who was the only city bacteriologist in Asheville’s history. The field was named in his honor following McCormick’s death in 1922 and remains named after him still today.

The team has had many names through the years, including the Moonshiners, Mountaineers, Royal Giants, Skylanders, and finally the Tourists midway through the 1925 season.

McCormick Field has seen many exhibition games, so many, in fact, that Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Ty Cobb, Cal Ripken Sr. and Jr. have all passed through!

-Jessica Castle