Despite not having a professional baseball team in western North Carolina, this area is secretly a great spot for fans of America’s favorite pastime.
Even though this neck of the woods is football county, there are multiple professional baseball teams on every level of the game. Did you know there are not one, not two, but 10 professional baseball teams within a roughly four-hour drive from Cherokee County?
Atlanta Braves (MLB)
If you’re from the south, you’re more than likely an Atlanta Braves fan. The Braves are the only Major League Baseball team in the south outside of Florida. The next closest MLB team is the Cincinnati Reds, a six-hour drive from Cherokee County.
The Braves play at Truist Park in downtown Atlanta, about a two-hour drive from Cherokee County, depending on the notorious metro traffic. So if you want to enjoy a piece of “The Show,” arrive early and stay late. Around Truist Park is The Battery, a social area with restaurants and bars for fans to enjoy before and after games.
Chattanooga Lookouts (MiLB Double-A)
At roughly the same distance as the Braves, there is a Minor League Baseball team on the Double-A level. The Chattanooga Lookouts are the farm team for the Cincinnati Reds. The Lookouts play at AT&T Field, right on the Tennessee River.
If you want a night on the riverfront, then a Lookouts game is right for you.
Chattanooga has plenty of activities downtown, and the Lookouts are right in the heart of it. They are planning a new multi-use stadium with plans to open in 2026, so fans can look forward to a new and improved Lookouts baseball experience.
Chattanooga native Jackie Mitchell, one of the first female pitchers in professional baseball, played for the Lookouts. Mitchell was signed to the Lookouts when she was 17. Local legends has it that during her first season, she struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig on three pitches each.
Also, in the early 1900s, the Lookouts were part of the longest game in South Association (a high level minor league from 1901-61) history. They took on the Atlanta Crackers and, after 23 innings of baseball, the umpire called the game a 2-2 tie as it was too dark to play the rest of the game.
Asheville Tourists (MiLB High-A)
Our third team, also at about a two-hour drive from Cherokee County, is the Asheville Tourists. The Tourists are the farthest west professional baseball team in the state, but they are not western North Carolina’s only professional squad.
The Tourists baseball association has been around for over a century. The original team took the field as the Moonshiners in 1897, then again from 1910-12 before taking on the name the Mountaineers. In 1915, their last season as the Mountaineers, they won their first championship.
The years 1916-71 was their first stint as the Tourists. In 1972, they became a farm team for the Baltimore Orioles and followed suit by changing their name to the Orioles until 1975. In ’75, they once again became the Tourists, keeping the name ever since.
The team has been around so long that they had two seasons suspended for the two World Wars (1917 and 1942).
Super Bowl champion quarterback Russell Wilson played 61 games with the Tourists in 2011, when they were the minor league affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. He had three home runs, 15 RBI and a batting average of .228.
A few months after informing the Rockies he would not be continuing with baseball, he was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft, where he would raise the NFL’s Lombardi Trophy in the next season. Wilson is no stranger to the region, as he attended N.C. State University.
The Tourists are the High-A affiliate of the Houston Astros, featuring multiple 2023 MLB draft picks and other Astros prospects.
Rome Emperors (MiLB High-A)
The Rome Emperors, formerly known as the Rome Braves, are the MiLB High-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. In a little over two hours, baseball fans can get to AdventHealth Stadium in Rome, Ga., home to the Emperors.
For 20 years, they were known as the Rome Braves, but after the 2023 season, they decided to change the team’s name. “The time has come to usher in a new era of Minor League Baseball in Rome, Georgia. … Our mission is to give the Rome community a brad as unique and special as the area itself,” the team said in a statement last year.
Notable alumni from the Emperors include MLB Hall of Famers Chipper Jones and John Smoltz, as well as current Atlanta Braves stars Ronald Acuna Jr. and Max Fried.
The Emperors are two-time South Atlantic League champions. Their first championship came in their first season in 2003, then again in 2016. In their inaugural season, they had help from future Braves stars Brian McCann and Jeff Francoeur.
The team is the longest minor league affiliate of Atlanta and the second to remove the Braves name from its team identity.
Gwinnett Stripers (MiLB Triple-A)
At about two hours from Cherokee County, you can go see another affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, the Gwinnett Stripers.
The Stripers call Coolray Field in Lawrenceville, Ga., home and have since the team began playing there in 2009. The team is named for striped bass, which is for the popularity of fishing in the area such as nearby Lake Lanier.
The team moved to Gwinnett County, Ga. after spending 42 years in Richmond, Va., under the name Richmond Braves. The Gwinnett Stripers adopted the name of Braves like their MLB affiliate, but changed prior to the 2018 season.
The Stripers have had notable alumni, including former Atlanta Braves star Freddie Freeman and former Braves pitcher Julio Teheran. Freeman and Teheran went back-to-back as International League Rookies of the Year in 2010 and 2011 during their time with the then-Braves. Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker managed the Stripers from 2014-16 before getting his call-up to the big leagues.
The Stripers are one of two teams near Cherokee County that are MiLB Triple-A. So if you want a chance to see players who are on the precipice of “The Show” or potentially big leaguers who are on rehab assignments, then head to Lawrenceville to catch a game.