McCormick Field will become the home of the Asheville Hippies on Thursday, June 29th.
For one night only, the team will wear custom jerseys with a Tourists colored tie-dye theme and the word “Hippies” across the chest as they take on the Greenville baseball team. The jerseys worn on June 29 will be auctioned off to fans with proceeds benefiting a local charity.
What started as a Twitter troll attack when the Greenville baseball team referred to the Tourists as the “Asheville Hippies” resulted in a friendly challenge offered by the Asheville Tourists and accepted by Greenville. It was determined that whichever team won the majority of the head-to-head contests in 2016, the other would succumb to wearing a specialty jersey for one game in 2017. If the Tourists won the 24-game series Greenville would become the “Rednecks” and if Greenville won the series the Tourists would become the “Hippies.”
The series ended in a 12-12 split. Having not lost a season series to Greenville since 2010 the Tourists considered this a loss and chose to execute their end of the bargain. Greenville respectfully declined.
“If poking a little fun at ourselves will help raise money for those in need, then I’m all for it,” says Asheville Tourists President Brian DeWine.
The Tourists play Greenville 22 times in 2017, including Opening Night on April 13th.
Asheville Hippies T-Shirts are currently available for fans to purchase at The Tourists Trap located at McCormick Field and online at TheTouristsTrap.com.