by Justin McGuire
As the great philosopher Yogi Berra once said, “You can observe a lot by watching.”
That was my goal as I headed out to McCormick Fi … err, HomeTrust Park … for the Asheville Tourists’ 2026 home opener on April 21. I was going to observe and I was going to watch a historic night in Asheville’s long baseball history.
The game against the Greenville Drive marked the official unveiling of an 18-month, $40 million renovation that brought the 102-year-old minor league stadium up to modern infrastructure standards required by Major League Baseball. The Tourists are the High-A affiliate of the Houston Astros.
Some of the changes were easy to observe: Gone was the park’s iconic arch entryway, replaced by an expanded front entrance and plaza; a new ticket office, new party areas, a state-of-the-art scoreboard, colorful murals and a refurbished team store were also readily apparent.
Another change that was hard for me to miss: signs for “HomeTrust Park.” For the first time since it opened in 1924, Asheville’s baseball stadium is not called McCormick Field in honor of Dr. Lewis M. McCormick, a noted bacteriologist and public health advocate.
On April 14, Asheville City Council approved the name change under a new lease granting naming rights for the city-owned ballpark to the team.
Most of the other changes were critical but not visible to the sellout crowd that filled the stadium. These include new and renovated clubhouses for both teams, indoor hitting cages, a designated facility for women members of the coaching staff and a designated facility for women umpires.
Head in the game
I spotted John Woodson in the concourse before the game. He was copying down both teams’ starting lineups into his own scorebook.
Woodson, who lives in Weaverville, told me he has been coming to Tourists games since 1987 (this is his third year with season tickets) and keeps score at every outing. If he hadn’t told me, I would have known anyway — he was wearing a button-down shirt decorated with scorecard diamond images (a gift from his daughter).
“I do it to keep my head in the game,” he explained.
Woodson remembers seeing future Hall of Famer Craig Biggio playing for the Tourists back in 1987. Biggio is one of several well-known players honored with banners at the ballpark, among them Todd Helton, Eddie Murray, the late Willie Stargell and even Crash Davis, the character played by Kevin Costner in Bull Durham.
Woodson hadn’t explored the refurbished ballpark in depth but had a positive initial impression.
When I asked him what he thought of the ballpark’s new name, HomeTrust, he simply took off his Tourists cap and showed me the McCormick Field logo on the back.
What’s in a name?
Gene Ungar of Arden made an even more obvious fashion statement in favor of the old name. His “I’m Still Calling it McCormick Field” T-shirt elicited plenty of positive comments from people in the crowd.
“I’m used to stadiums named for commercial entities,” said Ungar, a longtime Astros fan who has lived in the area for three years. “I get it, it’s business.”
But he told me he thinks the team should have been more transparent about the decision to change the name, a fact that wasn’t revealed until April 13.
“Tell me how much money it was,” he said. “Tell me where it went. Did it go to the Tourists? Did it go to the [Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority]? Did it go to the city? Because the city should get it, because this is their stadium.”
(Asheville Watchdog reported the City of Asheville will not receive direct revenue from the naming rights, which were granted to the Tourists under a 20-year lease with higher rent payments. While the deal’s terms were not disclosed, officials estimate naming rights could generate about $125,000 to $250,000 annually.)
Mike Young and AnneMary Schram of Asheville expressed disapproval of the new name as well.
They both wish the team had called the ballpark something like “HomeTrust at McCormick Field.”
Tourists President Brian DeWine told Asheville City Council that the McCormick name will be mentioned on a wall depicting the stadium’s history.
‘It’s really cool’
Not every fan is concerned about the name change. Danny Schuster of Brevard pointed out that fans of professional teams deal with such changes all the time.
“We’ll get used to it,” he said. “The old-school people will still call it McCormick, but new people won’t; and over time, HomeTrust Park will be accepted.”
Schuster was impressed with the renovations.
“They’re great,” he told me. “I love the murals. I think it’s really cool, very nice.”
Francis Lewis, who moved to Arden from Denver in January, is a longtime baseball fan who decided to check out HomeTrust Park for the first time.
“They need to get the parking straightened out, but other than that it’s a nice little ballpark,” he said. He plans to attend more games this season.
Also experiencing the ballpark for the first time was Duane Isabella of Connecticut. He and his wife were visiting their daughter in Durham when they took a side trip to Asheville. They spontaneously decided to buy tickets for the game, knowing nothing of the stadium’s history or renovations.
“I love small parks,” he said. “It’s beautiful and has some interesting outfield dimensions. Quirky ballparks are fun.”
Isabella also expressed interest in a banner commemorating the Asheville Blues, who played at McCormick Field and won the Negro Southern League championship in 1946 and ’47. That led to an interesting conversation; I wrote about the Blues back in 2022.
A good day
The overall mood at the game was festive. The Tourists gave out commemorative baseballs to fans on the way in and magnet schedules on the way out. Bunting draped the stands, and I spotted at least three Asheville City Council members in attendance: Bo Hess, Kim Roney and Maggie Ullman.
It didn’t hurt that it was perfect baseball weather — warm and clear.
The Tourists lost, 8-4, but that didn’t seem to dampen the mood any.
As Ungar put it: “I tell my son, because he gets angry when the home team loses, ‘A bad day at the ballpark is better than a good day anywhere else.’”
