Asheville Tourists

Asheville Tourists Founded in 1915 Asheville, North Carolina
Team Logo Cap Insignia
Class-level
Class A (1967), (1976-present) Double-A (1968-1971) Class A (1967) Double-A (1963), (1964-1966) Class A (1959-1962) Class B (1932), (1934-1942) (1946-1955) Class C (1931) Class B (1924-1930) Class D (1915-1917)
Minor league affiliations
South Atlantic League (1980-present) Southern Division Western Carolinas League (1976-1979) Southern League (1968-1971) Carolina League (1967) Southern League (1964-1966) South Atlantic League (1959-1963) Tri-State League (1946-1955) Piedmont League (1931-1932, 1934-1942) South Atlantic League (1924-1930) North Carolina State League (1915-1917)
Major league affiliations
Colorado Rockies (1994-present) Texas Rangers (1976-1981) Baltimore Orioles (1972-1975) Chicago White Sox (1971) Cincinnati Reds (1968-1970) Houston Astros (1967, 1982-1993) Pittsburgh Pirates (1961-1966) Philadelphia Phillies (1959-1960) Brooklyn Dodgers (1946-1951, 1953-1955) St. Louis Cardinals (1935-42) Boston Red Sox (1934)
Name
Asheville Tourists (1994-present)
Ballpark
McCormick Field (1992-present)
Minor league titles
League titles	5 (1915, 1939, 1961, 1968, 1984)
Division titles
Owner(s)/Operated by: Mike Dewine and family
Manager: Joe Mikulik
General Manager: Larry Hawkins

The Asheville Tourists are a minor league baseball team based in Asheville, North Carolina, USA. They play in the Class A South Atlantic League and have been a farm team of the Colorado Rockies since 1994.

Asheville teams have played under the Tourists moniker in different leagues and classifications for decades, with the earliest dating to 1915. The current team has played continuously in what is now known as the South Atlantic League since 1976. They have won one league championship, in 1984. Previous Tourists teams won a total of four additional championships.

The Tourists play home games at McCormick Field. The park opened in 1924 and was renovated in 1959, and again for the 1992 season. McCormick Field seats 4,000 fans, and is often joked about because of its scoreboard, which reads "Visitors" in the guest slot and "Tourists" in the home slot.^[1]

History

Earlier teams

Professional baseball in Asheville, North Carolina dates to 1897, when the Asheville Moonshiners took the field.^[1] It has been played continuously for nearly every year since 1909, with early teams such as the Redbirds (1909), the Moonshiners (1910–1912), and the Mountaineers (1913–1914).^[1][2] The "Tourists" name dates to 1915, when local sportswriters began referring to the Mountaineers team as the Tourists.^[1]

The original Tourists brought Asheville its first ever professional sports championship in 1915. They continued playing in the Class-D North Carolina State League until 1917, when the league suspended operations due to World War I. In 1924 the "Asheville Skylanders" started play in the South Atlantic League; however, they soon adopted the Tourists nickname.^[1] They played in the South Atlantic League until 1930, when they jumped to the Piedmont League, where they played for two seasons before folding. In 1934 the Columbia Sandlappers moved to Asheville, taking up the Tourists name.^[3] This incarnation won the 1939 Piedmont League championship; however the league suspended operations in 1942, due to the outset of World War II.^[1]

In 1946 a new Tourists franchise started up in the Tri-State League. During the 1940s they shared McCormick Field with the Asheville Blues, an independent Negro Leagues team.^[4] They folded along with their league in 1955.^[2] In 1959 a new South Atlantic League (later the Southern League) franchise came to town. McCormick Field was renovated. The team initially wanted a new name, and organized a fan vote to pick. However, fans voted overwhelmingly to keep the Tourists nickname.^[1] The team won two league titles, in 1961 and 1968. In 1968, the Tourists won the Southern League championship under manager Sparky Anderson, who went on to manage the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers during his 26 years in Major League Baseball.

In 1972 Asheville became affiliated with the Baltimore Orioles MLB team. As part of Baltimore's "Oriole Way" system, the Asheville team was rebranded the Asheville Orioles, adopting the logo and colors of their affiliate. The team had four successive winning seasons, but after the 1975 season the Orioles relocated their Double-A franchise to Charlotte, North Carolina as the Charlotte Orioles.^[1]

Current team

In 1976 the departed Orioles were followed by a new franchise in the Western Carolinas League (now the modern South Atlantic League). Like many teams before it, it assumed the Tourists nickname. The team has remained in Asheville continuously since, winning the 1984 league championship. They are currently a farm team of the Colorado Rockies, with whom they have been affiliated since 1994. They were previously affiliated with the Texas Rangers (1976–81) and the Houston Astros (1982–93).

The Tourists played a minor role in the 1988 film Bull Durham. In the film Kevin Costner's character, Crash Davis, finishes his baseball career with the Tourists after being cut from the Durham Bulls, and with them breaks the all-time minor league home run record.

On January 5, 2010 it was reported by the Asheville Citizen-Times that Palace Sports and Entertainment have sold the team to former U.S. senator Mike DeWine and his family. It was reported that Brian DeWine, son of Mike, would be the team president.^[5]

Year-by-year record

Year	Record	Finish	Manager	Playoffs
1915	74-46	1st	Jack Corbett	League Champs
1916	58-54	4th	Jack Corbett	none
1917	12-16	--	Ernest "Doc" Ferris	none
Team disbanded 1917-1923
1924	58-63	5th	Bob Higgins	none
1925	66-63	5th	Bob Higgins / Larry Gardner	none
1926	80-66	2nd	Larry Gardner	none
1927	76-73	4th	Larry Gardner	none
1928	97-49	1st	Ray Kennedy	none
1929	84-62	2nd	Mike Kennedy	Lost League Finals
1930	79-61	3rd	George Speirs
1931	66-67	4th	Ray Kennedy / Bobby Hipps
1932	35-33	--	Joe Guyon	Team disbanded July 7
Team disbanded 1933
1934	34-59 (55-78 overall)	5th	Bill Laval / Possum Whitted	Columbia moved to Asheville June 7
1935	75-62	1st	Billy Southworth	Lost League Finals
1936	40-103	6th	Billy Southworth
1937	89-50	1st	Hal Anderson	Lost in 1st round
1938	63-75	7th	Hal Anderson
1939	89-55	1st	Hal Anderson	League Champs
1940	75-60	2nd	Tommy West	Lost in 1st round
1941	64-76	7th	Nick Cullop
1942	61-77	6th	Bill DeLancey
Team disbanded 1943-1946
1946	83-57	2nd	Bill Sayles	Lost in 1st round
1947	65-74	6th	Bill Sayles
1948	95-51	1st	Clay Bryant	Lost in 1st round
1949	76-71	3rd	Ed Head	Lost in 1st round
1950	83-62	2nd	Clay Bryant	Lost League Finals
1951	85-55	2nd	Ray Hathaway	Lost League Finals
1952	65-75	5th	William Hart[disambiguation needed ] / George Tesnow
1953	83-67	2nd	Ray Hathaway	Lost in 1st round
1954	86-54	1st	Ray Hathaway	Lost League Finals
1955	53-63	3rd	Earl Naylor
Team disbanded 1956-1958
1959	70-70	5th	Clyde McCullough
1960	62-77	6th	Chuck Kress
1961	87-50	1st	Ray Hathaway	none League Champs
1962	70-70	4th	Ray Hathaway	Lost in 1st round
1963	79-61	2nd	Ray Hathaway
1964	52-86	8th	Ray Hathaway (28-53) / Bob Clear (24-33)	none
1965	80-60	2nd	Pete Peterson	none
1966	78-61	2nd	Pete Peterson	none
1967	64-74	10th	Chuck Churn
1968	86-54	1st	Sparky Anderson	none League Champs
1969	69-69	3rd	Alex Cosmidis	none
1970	59-80	8th	Jim Snyder	none
1971	90-51	2nd	Larry Sherry	Lost League Finals
Team known as Asheville Orioles 1972-1975
1976	76-62	1st	Wayne Terwilliger	Lost League Finals
1977	81-58	2nd	Wayne Terwilliger
1978	73-67	4th	Wayne Terwilliger	none
1979	75-63	2nd	Wayne Terwilliger
1980	69-71	5th	Tom Robson
1981	74-68	4th	Tom Robson
1982	65-76	8th	Dave Cripe
1983	64-80	9th (t)	Tom Spencer
1984	73-70	5th	Tom Spencer	League Champs
1985	76-62	4th	Fred Hatfield
1986	90-50	2nd	Ken Bolek	Lost League Finals
1987	91-48	1st	Keith Bodie	Lost League Finals
1988	65-75	9th	Gary Tuck / Jim Coveney
1989	68-70	8th	Jim Coveney
1990	66-77	9th	Frank Cacciatore
1991	55-83	14th	Frank Cacciatore
1992	74-66	4th	Tim Tolman
1993	51-88	14th	Bobby Ramos
1994	60-73	11th	Tony Torchia
1995	76-63	5th	Bill McGuire	Lost in 1st round
1996	84-52	1st	P.J. Carey	Lost in 2nd round
1997	62-76	12th	Ron Gideon
1998	71-69	7th	Ron Gideon
1999	64-77	11th	Jim Eppard
2000	66-69	8th (t)	Joe Mikulik
2001	68-71	9th	Joe Mikulik
2002	64-74	12th	Joe Mikulik
2003	74-65	6th	Joe Mikulik
2004	64-75	13th	Joe Mikulik
2005	71-67	10th	Joe Mikulik
2006	74-63	6th	Joe Mikulik
2007	80-58		Joe Mikulik
2008	83-56	2nd	Joe Mikulik

Roster

Asheville Tourists rosterview · talk · edit
Players				Coaches/Other
Pitchers 37 Albert Campos 24 Juan Gonzalez 10 Josh Hungerman -- Tyler Matzek 35 Joshua Mueller 30 Juan Perez 19 Taylor Reid -- Nick Schnaitmann 35 Kraig Sitton 33 Joshua Slaats 26 Peter Tago		Catchers 16 Anthony Aguilera 15 Dustin Garneau 25 Bryce Massanari Infielders  2 Cristhian Adames -- Dominic Altobelli  9 Brett Tanos 40 Mark Tracy 11 Helder Velazquez  3 Russell Wilson ‡  l Joey Wong Outfielders  4 Avery Barnes 23 Corey Dickerson 18 Chandler Laurent  8 Kyle Parker		Manager 20 Joe Mikulik Coaches 38 Joey Eischen (pitching) 14 Lenn Sakata (hitting) 7-day disabled list * On Colorado Rockies 40-man roster ∞ Reserve list § Suspended list ‡ Restricted list # Rehab assignment Roster updated September 13, 2011 Transactions → More rosters

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Jarrett, Keith (May 14, 2007). "On Base with the Asheville Tourists". Asheville Citizen-Times blog. Retrieved April 5, 2011
2. ^ ^{a b} Asheville, North Carolina Minor League City Encyclopedia. baseball-reference.com. Retrieved April 5, 2011.
3. ^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/team.cgi?id=839cdff6
4. ^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Asheville_Blues
5. ^ Asheville (N.C.) Citizen Times Story on sale

External links

• Official site