No place like the Carolinas for a game under the stars

Memorial Day Weekend!

Is that possible? Weren’t we celebrating St. Patrick’s Day just a few weeks ago?

Be that as it may, the Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial beginning of summer, just as the Labor Day weekend will mark its end in just the blink of an eye from now.

A lot of wonderful things make summer a sweet season in the Carolinas — mountain picnics, outdoor concerts, trips to the beach — but none is more wonderful than baseball.

Certainly, summer is the best time of the year to be a baseball fan in these parts. The minor league franchises are in full swing, and college league teams are kicking off their seasons.

Ah yes, so many choices, so little time.

So, what are the 10 best venues at which to watch baseball this summer in the Carolinas?

With apologies to fans of whatever parks I omit, here, in ascending order, are my choices for the best spots to spend a summer evening in heaven.

10) McNair Field

The home of the Forest City Owls franchise in the Coastal Plain League, a non-professional summer college league, is located in downtown Forest City in Rutherford County.

Constructed — 2007, with funds provided by former Forest City resident, the late Robert McNair, who once owned the NFL’s Houston Texans.

Capacity — Roughly 1,600

Parking — Free in a large adjacent lot but can get tricky when crowds are large on promotion nights.

Food — Nothing special. Standard ballpark fare.

Ticket Prices — $10 to $12

Ease of Access — Usually not bad.

Overview — Although home to a college league team, McNair feels like a minor league ballpark. Wide concourse, covered grandstand, beer garden, clean restrooms. Close by and cheap.

More information — 828-245-0000 or www.forestcitybaseball.com

9) Truist Stadium — Winston-Salem

Truist Stadium is home to the Dash, high-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, and is just off Business Interstate 40 in Winston-Salem.

Constructed — 2009

Capacity — 5,500

Parking — Abundant at $10 per car

Food — More choices than in smaller parks, but nothing spectacular.

Ticket Prices — $14 to $31

Ease of Access — Easy off and on to Business I-40

Overview — A beautiful and comfortable ballpark. My favorite feature is the outfield seating, not often found in minor league venues.

More information — 336-714-2287 or www.wsdash.com

8) Five County Stadium

Home to the Carolina Mudcats, high-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, off U.S. 264 amid the tobacco fields of eastern Wake County in Zebulon. While only 25 minutes from downtown Raleigh, it feels like a different universe.

Constructed — 1991 with major renovations in 1997 and 1999

Capacity — 6,500

Parking — Abundant and free.

Ticket Prices – $15

Food — Got to try the fried catfish sandwich. And there’s actually a high-end, sit-down restaurant atop the stadium — Cattails.

Ease of Access — No problem.

Overview — Love this stadium and the big baseball watertank which stands beside it. Staff is super friendly. Setting is tranquil. Summertime at its best.

A sad note. This is the final season for the Mudcats at Five-County. Next year, the franchise will be moving 24 miles south to Wilson and be renamed as the Warbirds.

More information — 919-269-2287 or www.milb.com/carolina-mudcats

7) First National Bank Field

Home to the Greensboro Grasshoppers, low-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and located in the heart of downtown near restaurants and shopping.

Constructed — 2005

Capacity — 7,499

Parking — A couple of small, team-managed lots at $5 per car. Other independent lots and on-street parking nearby. My advice, go early!

Tickets — $8 to $35

Food — Nothing spectacular. I would eat nearby and enjoy ice cream at the park.

Ease of Access — It’s in downtown Greensboro. Don’t be in any hurry leaving.

Overview — The first truly urban park on the list. Great atmosphere in downtown Greensboro.

More information — Call 336-268-2255 or www.grasshoppers.com

6) Pelicans Ballpark

What’s the one thing that might be better than baseball? Baseball at the beach, Myrtle Beach that is, where the home of the high-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, the Pelicans, is located less than a mile from the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean, just off U.S. 17.

Constructed — 1999

Capacity — 6,599

Parking — Abundant and it’s free

Food — Surprisingly good and surprisingly varied, including barbecue and Tex-Mex.

Ticket Prices — $15.

Ease of Access — Myrtle Beach in the summertime, not far from the strip. Need I say more?

Overview — I caught my first and only foul ball at this park, so it holds a special place in my heart. But personal memory aside, beautiful ballpark. I recommend sitting in the second level. The sightlines are better, and you can enjoy the sea breeze on even the warmest of nights.

More information — Call 843-918-6002 or www.milb.com/myrtle-beach

5) L.P. Frans Stadium

The home of the Hickory Crawdads, low-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers, our hometown team with most of the stadium in Burke County.

Constructed — 1993, Major Renovations — 2013

Seating Capacity — Roughly 4,000

Parking — Abundant, at $5 per car

Food — Nothing special. Standard ballpark fare

Ticket Price — $12 to $20.

Ease of Access — Good. Stadium is just a mile from U.S. 321 and traffic usually exits quickly. I always go through the country, avoiding both U.S. 321 and I-40.

Overview — A clean, comfortable place to enjoy a ballgame. Staff is fan friendly. General Manager Doug Locasio is a dedicated professional and one of the nicest fellas I’ve ever met. A few dozen Crawdads have made it to The Bigs, including Jurickson Profar, Neil Walker, and Martin Perez. My all time favorite Crawdad? Class act Andrew McCutchen.

More info: 828-322-3000 or www.milb.com/hickory

4) Truist Field — Charlotte

Home of the Triple A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox and square in the middle of uptown Charlotte, this park has a commanding and beautiful view of the Charlotte skyline.

Constructed — 2014

Capacity — 10,200

Parking — Available in nearby parking garages for $5 to $10.

Tickets — Prices range from $23 to $78.

Ease of Access — To be square in the middle of the city, usually not too bad.

Overview — Call me an old fogey, but I loved the old Knights Castle down in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Acres of parking. Close to I-77. And, for an old man on a fixed income most importantly, cheap seats.

Truist Field is fancy and it’s shiny and that view is amazing, but the tickets are expensive, the food prices are outrageous, and most of the “fans” have no idea that a baseball game is being played in front of them.

I rank it fourth on the list only because it is so close and because every fan ought to visit it at least once.

More information — Call 704-274-8300 or www.bbtballparkcharlotte.com

3) Durham Bulls Athletic Park

Home to the Triple A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, this park in downtown is not to be confused with Durham Athletic Park, the former home of the team which was immortalized in the 1988 Kevin Costner film, “Bull Durham.”

Constructed — 1995

Capacity — 10,000

Parking — Come early. Small lots are nearby. Parking garages are a bit of a longer walk. Most of the garages charge $10.

Food — Best selection I’ve ever seen at a minor league park. If you want it, they probably got it.

Tickets — Prices are low for a Triple A franchise, ranging from $13 to $38.

Ease of Access — It’s in downtown Durham, but the Durham Freeway is adjacent so it usually doesn’t take long.

Overview — This park could easily have been my Number One. It’s a beautiful venue, bringing to mind Camden Yards. The glaring, red-eyed, smoke-belching mechanical bull guards the left-field line over the sign which reads, “Hit Bull, Win Steak.” My favorite thing about this park? Banners honoring former Bulls hang around the concourse. Among the alumni are Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones. The fans are indeed fanatical, displaying more enthusiasm for the home team and disdain for the visitors than in any other park I have visited.

2) McCormick Field

Home to the low-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, the Tourists, this scenic park is carved into the side of a hill just south of downtown Asheville.

Constructed — 1992 on the same site as a historic park built in the early 1900s.

Capacity — Around 4,000

Parking — Good luck! The stadium has only a few spots for season ticket holders out front. The rest of us are left to scour surrounding streets and businesses for an open spot. Trust me, the reward is worth the hunt.

Food — For a low A franchise, quite the selection. My all-time favorite place for a jumbo hot dog with chili, slaw and mustard.

Tickets — Prices range from $14 for general admission to $30 for dugout boxes but the general admission seats, which I always choose, have backs and are very comfortable. Also, it’s easier to see from general admission.

Ease of Access — Getting safely back to your car without being run over is more of a challenge than is driving away.

Overview — McCormick Field, the original structure, is where I first fell in love with minor league baseball back in the early 1980s. The new structure is a lot more comfortable yet equally charming. The crowds here match the character of the city — funky, eclectic, laid back. Only one other place I’d rather watch a game.

More information — Call 828-258-0428 or www.theashevilletourists.com

1) Fluor Field

Fluor Field at the West End is home to the Drive, low-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, in downtown Greenville, S.C. The park is a replica of Boston’s Fenway Park, with the exact same dimensions, a “Green Monster” in left field and seating atop that wall.

Constructed — 2005

Capacity — 6,700

Parking — Small adjacent lots, parking garages, and on — street. A free trolley provides pickup from the adjacent lots.

Food — Good selection, but a dozen great restaurants are an easy walk from the park.

Tickets — Prices range from $14 to $25. The most expensive seats in the park are those farthest from the plate — high atop that Green Monster in left field.

Ease of Access — Be patient, but downtown Greenville is so great you may not want to leave.

Overview — This park is so wedded to the city’s downtown that it is impossible to talk about one without the other. Downtown Greenville is pedestrian friendly, scenic, and overflowing with great places to eat and to shop. The crown jewel is Falls Park on the Reedy River and its suspension bridge. All of these attractions are within an easy walk of Fluor Field.

The ballpark itself is a great, modern facility with the same funky angles and idiosyncrasies as Fenway. The crowds are unfailingly large and enthusiastic. And, in the middle of each eighth inning, fans lustily engage in a singalong of Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline.”

The best, simply the best.

But What About …?

In the interest of fairness, I should note that three new baseball parks have opened in the Carolinas over the last decade that I have not had the opportunity to visit.

From everything I’ve read, all three of these parks are modern baseball palaces with a host of amenities and special features.

Segra Park, home to the Columbia, S.C., Fireflies, is in the downtown heart of the city. The park opened in 2016 and has a seating capacity of nearly 10,000.

Atrium Health Ballpark is the new home of the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers. Completed in 2021 at a cost of $52 million, the facility has a seating capacity of just under 5,000.

And finally, Segra Stadium, which serves as the nest for the Fayetteville Woodpeckers, opened in 2019. The downtown ballpark seats just under 5,000 also.

I’m hoping to visit at least one of these new beauties before the minor league season ends in early September.