McCrary Park /
Asheboro Copperheads
(click on the image
for a larger photo)
Year Opened |
1946 |
Capacity |
1,400, give or take |
Dimensions |
323L, 400C, 336R |
Last Visit |
2004 |
Web Site |
www.teamcopperhead.com |
Online Broadcasts |
Yes |
Online Ticket Sales |
No |
Phone |
336/460-7018 |
League |
Coastal Plain League |
Ticket Prices |
Reserved, $6; General Admission, $5 |
Parking |
Free and abundant in adjoining unpaved parking lot. |
Directions |
Take
Route 220 (from either the north or the south) to
Asheboro and exit at Presnell Street. Turn onto Presnell
heading westbound. Take the next immediate left onto
McCrary Street and follow approximately two miles. The
ballpark will be on your right. |
Rating |
|
(click on the image
for a larger photo)
Confession time:
Sometimes in the middle of a baseball season you
get really, really sick of the game; the smell of
the hot dogs and the roar of the crowd can get
overwhelming when you're around it every day or
when you're on the road for weeks at a time to
visit ballparks.
I was in that
overwhelmed mindset when I set out for Asheboro to
check out McCrary Park, the home of the Asheboro
Copperheads of the college wood-bat Coastal Plain
League. After already hitting five North Carolina
ballparks in four days, I was ready for a break.
Or, at least, I wasn't
ready for the great time I had at McCrary Park,
and to an extent it restored my faith in baseball.
The park is small and tucked away in a residential
area, but it's an integral part of the Asheboro
community.
McCrary Park was built in 1946 by McCrary Mills
and served as the home for the highly successful
McCrary Eagles, the Mill’s industrial league team
for 1946-1957. The park would go on to serve as
the home for Asheboro Post 45 following the
revival of the program in the late 1950s; today
the park is home to local high-school and Legion
teams as well as the Copperheads.
(click on the image
for a larger photo)
What made the visit so special? Part of it related
to the simplicity of the ballpark. There's really
not a lot to it: a covered grandstand, a
concession building, four sets of rickety
bleachers, and a picnic seating area down the
right-field line where fans bring their own
chairs. The grandstand features seat-back seating
and a small press box.
The more moving aspect to the visit was the
intimacy between the Copperheads and the
community. There's not a lot of distance between
the players and the fans with a college wood-bat
league, and it was heartening to see the players
milling around with the fans -- especially the
kids -- before the game, chatting up a storm. Most
ballplayers pay lip service to being role models
for kids, but you don't always get the sense they
mean it. The Copperheads players truly meant it:
most seemed really happy just to be in uniform and
didn't harbor any pretensions of future stardom,
so they could let down their guard and be regular
people. And
that's really what the ballpark experience should
be about.
(click on the image
for a larger photo)
Concessions
All concessions are sold in the single
concession building. The highlight is the $1.50
hot dog, which comes topped with chili and cole
slaw. Also on the menu: pop, candy, frozen treats,
and $3 Chick-Fil-A sandwiches. A cup of ice will
run you a quarter.
|