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18-630: Asheville teams have played under the Tourists moniker in different leagues and classifications for over a century, with the earliest dating to 1897. The current team has played continuously in what is now known as the South Atlantic League since 1976, though it was briefly known as the High-A East in 2021. Asheville has won three South Atlantic league championships , first in 1984 and most recently in 2014. Previous Tourists teams won

36-902: A 32% stake in the team but does not play a role in management. In 2020 the team received a $ 189,500 Paycheck Protection Program loan during the COVID-19 pandemic . Pitchers Catchers Infielders Outfielders Manager Coaches 60-day injured list [REDACTED] 7-day injured list * On Houston Astros 40-man roster ~ Development list # Rehab assignment ∞ Reserve list ‡ Restricted list § Suspended list † Temporarily inactive list Roster updated September 10, 2024 Transactions → More rosters: MiLB  •  South Atlantic League → Houston Astros minor league players Baseball Hall of Fame alumni Notable alumni List of South Atlantic League champions The South Atlantic League of Minor League Baseball

54-541: A total of four additional championships. The Tourists play home games at McCormick Field . The stadium opened in 1924, renovated in 1959, and renovated again for the 1992 season. It seats 4,000 fans. Professional baseball in Asheville, North Carolina , dates to 1897, when the Asheville Moonshiners took the field. It has been played continuously for nearly every year since 1909, with early teams such as

72-580: Is a daily newspaper of Asheville, North Carolina . It was formed in 1991 as a result of a merger of the morning Asheville Citizen and the afternoon Asheville Times . It is owned by Gannett . Founded in 1870 as a weekly, the North Carolina Citizen became a daily newspaper in 1885. Writers Thomas Wolfe , O. Henry , both buried in Asheville, and F. Scott Fitzgerald , a frequent visitor to Asheville, frequently could be found in

90-487: Is one of three High-A baseball leagues in the United States . A league champion is determined at the end of each season. Champions have been determined by postseason playoffs, winning the regular season pennant, or being declared champion by the league office. For 2019, the first- and second-half winners within each division, Northern and Southern, met in a best-of-three series to determine division champions. Then,

108-666: 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 its affiliate. The team had four successive winning seasons, but after the 1975 season the Orioles relocated its Double-A franchise to Charlotte, North Carolina , as the Charlotte Orioles . McCormick Field would not be unoccupied for

126-618: The "Asheville Skylanders" started play in the South Atlantic League ; however, it soon adopted the Tourists nickname. It played in the South Atlantic League until 1930, when it jumped to the Piedmont League , where it played for two seasons before folding. In 1934 the Columbia Sandlappers moved to Asheville, taking up the Tourists name. This incarnation won the 1939 Piedmont League championship; however

144-662: The 1976 season, however. Shortly after the AA franchise moved to Charlotte, its 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. It is currently a farm team of the Houston Astros (1982–93, 2021–), with whom it has been affiliated since 2021. It

162-500: The North and South division winners played a best-of-five series to determine a league champion. As of 2022, the winners of each division from both the first and second halves of the season meet in a best-of-three division series, with the winners of the two division series meeting in a best-of-three championship series. Active South Atlantic League teams appear in bold . Asheville Citizen-Times The Asheville Citizen-Times

180-622: The Redbirds (1909) and the Mountaineers (1910–1914). The "Tourists" name dates to 1915, when local sportswriters began referring to the Mountaineers team as the Tourists. The original Tourists brought Asheville its first ever professional sports championship in 1915. It continued playing in the Class-D North Carolina State League until 1917, when the league suspended operations due to World War I. In 1924

198-683: The downtown Asheville building located nine miles (14 km) away. In 1995, Multimedia was acquired by Gannett . In April 1997, the Citizen-Times became the first daily newspaper in Western North Carolina to launch a website ; the site now receives tens of thousands of hits a day. In Jan 2009, the press was shut down and shortly after sold off as scrap metal. Now the Citizen-Times is printed in Greenville, South Carolina , alongside The Greenville News and shipped to

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216-603: The league suspended operations in 1942, due to the outset of World War II. In 1946 a new Tourists franchise started up in the Tri-State League . During the 1940s the team shared McCormick Field with the Asheville Blues , an independent Negro leagues team. It folded along with its league in 1955. In 1959 a new South Atlantic League (later the Southern League ) franchise came to town. McCormick Field

234-486: The newspapers and radio station WWNC was purchased by the Greenville News-Piedmont Company . In 1968 Greenville News-Piedmont merged with Southern Broadcasting Corporation to form Multimedia . In 1986, $ 12 million was invested in offset printing presses and a new 44,000-square-foot (4,100 m ) production building in nearby Enka , with composed pages transmitted electronically from

252-720: The newsroom in earlier days. In 1930 the Citizen came under common ownership with the Times , which was first established in 1896 as the Asheville Gazette . The latter paper merged with a short-lived rival, the Asheville Evening News , to form the Asheville Gazette-News and was renamed The Asheville Times by new owner Charles A. Webb. The Citizen was in a former YMCA and the press

270-595: The regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization. On January 5, 2010 it was reported by the Asheville Citizen-Times that Palace Sports and Entertainment have sold the Asheville Tourists for $ 7 million to former U.S. Senator and current Governor of Ohio Mike DeWine and his family. It was reported that Brian DeWine, son of Mike, would be the team president. The team is owned by DeWine Seeds-Silver Dollar Baseball. Governor DeWine has

288-598: Was in the swimming pool. The Times was in the Jackson Building . The Citizen had to leave shortly after Christmas 1938 and publisher D. Hiden Ramsey asked Tony Lord to design a new building, which went up in 15 months at 14 O. Henry Avenue and also housed the Times . Charles Webb became president of both papers and the local radio station located on top of the building. In 1954, the Citizen-Times Publishing Company which owned

306-611: Was 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 . In 2022, the High-A East became known as the South Atlantic League, the name historically used by

324-651: 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. 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

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