Dave Cheadle- Asheville-Citizen-Time Article

Several people asked me about this article after the recent passing of David Cheadle. In general, I try not to simply scan in articles, but I thought it would be OK to make an exception here. Keith Jarrett wrote this informative article for the Asheville Citizen-Times and it came out in the August 13, 2000 edition.

Dave sent me this article after I wrote him a note asking about his career.

Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium- Kannapolis Intimidators

Kannapolis has an interesting team and park. We stopped by on a non-game day and checked the place out.

I am sure it is exciting on game day, but our time there was brief. It was hot and we did not have a lot of time.

I did like the info on the team that was posted inside of the stadium by the booster club. I like the information on the home areas of the team players.

An interesting item offered in the gift shop was a very long panoramic photo of the park made by a fan. You can buy a copy for $15!

Obviously, there is a lot of emphasis on racing here. To be honest, the place almost felt more like a racing shrine than a ballpark. I do appreciate that though. Baseball and racing fans both can stop here on their pilgrimages.

L.P. Frans Stadium- Hickory Crawdads

The Hickory Crawdads proved to be a very classy organization when we came through town. We knew we would be there on an early Saturday morning. We called a couple of weeks ahead of time to make sure the gift shop would be open, and that they would be able to let us see the place. They assured us that they would be around when we would be there.

Well, we drove to the area, and the place was packed! We wondered if maybe they were having some college game or other event going on. We hoped it was not some sort of private event.

We went to the front game entrance. People were mingling everywhere- there was a lot of excitement.

We went on in and noticed that Crawdads posters, magnet schedules, and pocket schedules were being handed out to everyone that would accept them! Pretty cool! Really, any team hosting a non-baseball event at their venue should be doing this sort of thing.

The team shop is near the front of the park, and we noticed that it was not open for business. There was a very kind young girl handing out posters up front. I told her that we had called about stopping by and were told the team shop would be accessible. She went to see if someone could open it up for us and came back giving me a thumbs up.

The Crawdads have a smaller gift shop, but they have many more unique items than other teams. We picked up a cool t-shirt with one of their logos (it is a claw holding a baseball). they also sold game used balls!

The stadium was hosting a 5K run on the day we were there. We actually stuck around to watch some of it. They had a good crown and a full parking lot. The race ended at home plate.

The park has a nice rural feel to it. This is a park I hope to catch a game at some time. A nice community feel is going on in the area.

War Memorial Stadium, Greensboro, NC

Here are a couple of photos I took while on my trip through the Carolina's. The Greensboro franchise used to play here, and the park has a brief feature in Bull Durham.

I was not able to get inside, but that was OK. We only had a couple of minutes to look around. It still looks like a nice park, but see my previous entry on the new park. A change was needed.

Durham Athletic Park- Durham NC

We drove by historic Durham Athletic Park after visiting the current park for the Bulls. It is still a very nice park. While we were there, they were prepping it for the upcoming game the current Bulls would be playing here.

Durham Bulls Athletic Park, NC

The Durham Bulls are in my books one of those exciting elite minor league franchises. If I was going to rank the most significant historical minor league franchises, this one would be top 5.

That would be a hard list to make up though, and an argument could be made for several teams. I would rank the Toledo Mud Hens at 1, the Columbus Clippers at 2, and the Bulls would probably be number 3. Then again, ask me tomorrow, I will rank those teams in a different order (and possibly even name 3 different teams).

The Bulls really pushed things in baseball and thanks to the movie, they helped put the excitement of minor league ball in the minds of Americans again.

The park is in the very urban Durham downtown area. It fits well. The old park, featured in the film, is only a few miles away. I will get to that park in a later post. I really hate to see nice parks abandoned but in this case it was necessary.

People went to see the movie "Bull Durham" which became huge. As the movie became huge, so did the actual team. They needed a bigger park to support the new larger fan base!

This is a nice, shiny new park, with a polished feel to it.

I did ask about the bull from the film, which I heard was on display here at the new park. One staff person told me that it was damaged, and had been placed in storage to preserve it. Another staff person told me that it had been totally destroyed.

They do have a cool new bull hanging over the fence in the outfield.

We only had a short period of time in Durham, and we had to make the most of it. We stopped by the Bulls park and their gift shop. They have a nice, well stocked gift shop (as was expected). the staff there was great too, giving us some access to the park. They also gave us some directions to the old park. I talked to several staff at this park who seemed proud of their job, and who talked about what was going on with the team.

It seems the team has made a bit of a tradition out of playing a game at the old park. One guy working here at the current park seemed very excited about this event.

The Bulls organization takes a lot of pride in what they do, and they play in a nice area. Check out my pictures. They skyline is beautiful, and they keep their entire facility clean and in order even on non-game days.

This organization and its current management is aware of the legacy it manages and it is doing justice to that legacy.

Knights Stadium- Charlotte Knights SC

I am not sure what to say about Knight's Stadium.

I enjoyed my visit to this park and the area.

I went to the digitalballparks site to get some information on this one before going (that site, by the way, gets my highest endorsement, they cover everything). They mention that, when this park went up in the 90s, they were kind of hoping and expecting that a major league team might be lured to the area. The stadium was built with the thought that it might be expanded some day to something bigger.

The place never quit fulfilled those expectations. It is a nice place for a game, but it has that feeling, that maybe it could have been something more.

I almost want to compare it to a city. Some small towns start out as nice small towns. They were never expected to be big thriving towns, and they have small town charm. Then there are towns that feel like something more was supposed to happen there, and it never did. I can think of some Pennsylvania and Ohio towns specifically where industry has moved out, and that feel of some bigger expectation lingers.

Some small ballparks start out as nice little parks, and they keep that charm. Dayton's park comes to mind. The West Virginia Power, in my opinion, play is a very attractive little park. They have exceeded their expectations.

Then you have big parks that were built with something even bigger in mind.

Still, this is a great area with a great park. There was a big, enthusiastic crowd there when I went. The locals do seem to support it, thank goodness. I do hear a lot of friendly banter about the game and the players.

Still, with team rebuilding their parks in downtown areas, and some abandoning adequate, young parks in the process, you do ponder how long this park can continue.

I hope this place has some life left in it, as it has become a bit of a novel park. As mentioned, it was built with great expectations. Also, it is in the wrong state. If you are a fan of oddities in baseball, you must visit this park.

They have one of those cool baseball water towers near by too, which fits in with the skyline nicely.

Burlington Athletic Stadium- Burlington Royals NC

We drove through Burlington NC to check out Burlington Athletic Stadium. What happened here was a bit of a first in our travels to parks. We went when a game was not scheduled (as the Burlington Royals have yet to start their season) but a college game was going on!

I must admit that I do not follow college baseball. I know I am missing out, but I am just so fascinated with the lower levels of professional baseball in general. There is really no way to follow minor league ball, in general because there is so much going on. If I even attempted to try to follow college baseball too my head would explode!

Anyway, these two teams were going at it, and there was a small crowd during this weekday game event.

We asked the person taking tickets if it was OK to go in and take a few pictures. The park was very nice and let us in. I do not know if this was a ticketed event or not, but they were very nice about it.

I did ask if there was any sort of a gift shop. I was told that there really wasn't, but I was told that hats were for sale at the concession stand.

Greenville Municipal Stadium

I will keep this short, and let the few pictures I took speak for themselves.

Greenville Municipal Stadium has only been without a pro ball team for 5 or so years now.

The Greenville Braves used the facility for all 21 years of the teams existence, and then the Greenville Bombers briefly used it, before becoming the Greenville Drive and moving their park across town.

I have written about how spotless the new park in town is. It is truly amazing. I can't argue with the reasoning for going to the new park.

I bet this park was great in its day. It does break my heart to see a park get run down like it has, but it is not totally lost yet.

We stopped by here not really knowing what to expect. I was pretty excited to see that it was still standing, though there is a lot of growth around it. Also, it looks like there is a park and ride bus stop kind of set up around it.

I walked around the park, and there is a huge section of the outfield wall that has been knocked out. I hate to see any damage done to a park, new or old, but it did give me a quick look inside.

I did not want to be too intrusive, but I did take some picture.

The aging outfield wall and the scoreboard were exciting, yet sad to see. You can see where words noting championships have faded from the wall.

The facility seemed pretty intact to me, and the field has been maintained, not to pro standards, but to quality amateur standards, at least. Seats are still in good condition too.

I did see some pizza boxes near a dugout. Someones shoes were on the field too, which made me think someone is using the park at times.

Five County Stadium- Carolina Mudcats

I had heard a lot of stuff about the park in Zebulon North Carolina. Doesn't "Zebulon" sound like the name of a villain from an old sci-fi movie? I guess it could also be the name of a planet in Star Trek too.

OK, enough of that.

We did get to see the AA Reds team take on the former AA Reds team (the Lookouts). I did see the AA Reds/Lookouts a couple of years ago in Chattanooga take on the Mudcats. Yes, I know, like my Zebulon ramblings, this has nothing to do with my recent trip.

The team and field are nice and cozy. There was a very small crowd the night we went, but I did see a lot of guys keeping score, and talking about the game. The few fans that were there seemed interested in the game.

I did hear some of the locals yelling at the home team pretty aggressively when plays were not made perfectly. I even heard a somewhat loud argument between fans of the Mucats concerning the game.

The team does have netting all over the place. I know many teams are doing this now. I would hate to say that it is not a good thing, but I personally don't like it. Sure, having the nets around home is very acceptable, but some teams have it all over. I like taking pictures, and the net, obviously, makes this difficult. On the flip side of that, I have had some balls graze my ears. There are pros and there are cons.

This is a nice area, with a fun park. If I lived close to this park, I would be at it every night. Sadly, it looked to me like many Zebulonians are not taking advantage of their park!

The town has one of those really cool baseball water towers too. The Knights have one next to their park also. More on that one later.

New Bridge Bank Park- Greensboro Grasshoppers

This is another park we were able to stop at, but it was not on a game day.

The park has a very new and bright feel. It is only 5 years old! It really feels like a AA park to me. It is also located in a nice downtown setting.

I was able to get some exterior shots of the old ballpark in town. I hate it when a team leaves a great, historic older park, but the move was justified. This park is spotless!

They have a nice team shop too, which was well stocked.

The team has a big muppet like mascot AND they have an actual dog who is well known too. Dolls of both team representatives were available in their shop.

Check out my photos. This is a park I would love to go to again on game day!

It is only a few miles from here to their old park too, which is convenient while checking out numerous baseball sites on one road trip.

I will get some exterior pictures from the other park up soon.

Shoeless Joe Jacksons House

As mentioned in the other entry for Greenville, Shoeless Joe's house is right next door to the park.

I remember watching the Learning Channel's special on this house some time ago. It was such a cool episode. I remember watching about the time Josh Hamilton was claimed by the Reds, and there was some real excitement around him. We saw Josh playing in the New York Penn League right before that too.

The episode was about Josh helping to restore and move Joe's house.

The museum/house has very limited hours, unfortunately. I thought surely it would be open on game days. I was wrong.

It is still nice, and you have to respect the crew that moved the home, and set it up as a museum.

Just a block or two from the park and the house is a cool Joe statue too!

Hopefully, on my next trip through town, I can see the museum during normal hours (Saturday 9-2).

McCormick Field- Asheville Tourists

Our first stop on our trip was to see the Asheville Tourists. This is another great Carolina town that I was excited to see. After a day at the Biltmore, a bit of time checking out their downtown, and ending our day at McCormick Field, my brain felt overloaded.

McCormick Field is a few blocks from the town's active downtown area. I did not get to spend as much time down there as I would have liked, but it looked fun.

McCormick Field feels more like a New York Penn League type field to me. Even though you are in an urban area, there is a lot of green above the outfield fence. I definitely would not call this park very modern. That dated feel, in my opinion, is appreciated.

The atmosphere was very local and family friendly. I saw many parents with their kids around. The park had that very local feel too, I saw a lot of people talking to all of the other people in their sections.

Oh, these guys have a great vendor. He got up and danced on the dugout between innings, and he actually announced that he could go home after he made his sales. He then pleaded (in a very joking way) with people to buy stuff from him!

Their gift shop was a little odd and small. They did not have a stuffed mascot toy, which I thought was wrong. They did have very cool Crash Davis Tourists shirts though. Oh, and they have about the coolest souvenir cup I have found. There is a group photo of the park on the cup. Its not a cheap plastic add cup like many parks are using now.

I really like the South Atlantic League. I have been following it for several years, since the former SAL team the Lake County Captains played close to my old home in Cleveland, and the Lexington Legends are close by these days. I have watched the Tourists play on many occasions, and it was fun seeing them play, for the first time, at their home field.

Fluor Field- Greenville Drive

Greenville is a fun place in general, and it is a great baseball town. This might be one of the nicest parks around.


The park looks very much like the big league team's Fenway. They have a replica of the Green Monster in left. There is an apartment building right behind there (having an apartment with a view of a minor league park is a fantasy of mine!). The exterior looks great too!


There were plenty of staff around, but they all seemed friendly and enthusiastic. They did not take away from the game experience. In fact, I chatted with a couple of staff who seemed excited about baseball and about their team.

Other teams take note! A lot of helpful staff who are excited about minor league ball is a plus! Having a lot of staff around who are concerned about where fans are standing, sitting, and generally trying to justify their job by annoying fans is a minus!


We had a nice, long talk with one girl taking tickets who really seemed to know baseball and the Drive. She talked a little about Shoeless Joe, the team, this park, and the old park.

The other staff we talked to at this park were helpful and friendly too.


The Drive have a great area with pictures of players who have passed through the Greenville.


The Drive have a gift shop inside and outside of the park. Both had a great selection of various merch. They have one of those Build A Bear mascot set ups, and I think that is totally cool!


Also, Shoeless Joe Jackson's house has been moved right next door. Unfortunately, the house keeps very limited hours, and we did not get to see the inside. I am sure many baseball fans saw the Learning Channel's show on Shoeless Joe's house, with Josh Hamilton doing a lot of work on it during the move. I will get an entry up on what we saw of his house soon.