Asheville Tourists

Professional baseball in Asheville, North Carolina, dates to 1897, when the Asheville Moonshiners took the field.[2] It has been played continuously for nearly every year since 1909, with early teams such as the Redbirds (1909) and the Mountaineers (1910–1914).[2][3] The "Tourists" name dates to 1915, when local sportswriters began referring to the Mountaineers team as the Tourists.[2]

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.[2] 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.[4] This incarnation won the 1939 Piedmont League championship; however the league suspended operations in 1942, due to the outset of World War II.[2]

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. They folded along with their league in 1955.[3] 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.[2] 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.[2]

The Asheville Tourists in a game against the Rome Braves

McCormick Field would not be unoccupied for the 1976 season, however. Shortly after the AA franchise moved to Charlotte, their place was taken by an expansion team in the Western Carolinas League (which in 1980 became the 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 Houston Astros (1982–93, 2021–), with whom they have been affiliated since 2021. They were previously affiliated with the Texas Rangers (1976–81) and the Colorado Rockies (1994–2020). The team has subsequently won two additional league titles in 2012 and 2014.

In conjunction with Major League Baseball's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Tourists were organized into the High-A East.[5] In 2022, the High-A East became known as the South Atlantic League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization.[6]