Watch Out for That Hill! (Or Maybe Not.)

Walking into Howard Johnson Field, Aug-2012.

The park's seating area as seen from the left-field bleachers.

The field, without the old, distinctive (and dangerous) right-field hill.

Chronological Tour: Stop 160

• Location: Legion Street south of Main, Johnson City, Tenn. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 1956 as Cardinal Park (renovated 1991)
• Additional names: TVA Credit Union Ballpark (2019)
• Home team: Johnson City Phillies (1957-60), Cardinals (1961, 1975-present), Yankees (1971-74), Appalachian League; East Tennessee State University Buccaneers, Southern Conference (through 2010)
• Capacity: 2,500

Rating: 3 baseballs

It’s a city park which has hosted East Tennessee State University and still hosts the Johnson City team in the Appalachian League, which played at the professional Rookie level from the 1950s to 2019. The field is a respectable size, and it had a right-field berm in play, making balls to the wall very interesting (at least one fielder fell down playing the ball up the berm and off the wall while I watched a game). The hill was removed in 2010, and the 15-foot fence was extended to right field. The team has also started referring to the facility as Cardinal Park again, although the dedication plaque to Mr. Johnson remains.

The stadium itself is typical Appy, with bench seating under a roof (except for the two rows of box seats up against the field) and a scoreboard that works right some of the time but is in desperate need of bulbs (since replaced by an LED model). The entire grandstand is screened by a net; if you want a souvenir, you have to go into the bleachers down the lines.

Parking is free, tickets are cheap, concessions are reasonable, souvenirs are very reasonable. At this lowest level of pro baseball, things feel a lot purer than they do in some of the artificial environments I’m seeing at some of these new palaces.

With the Appalachian League transforming from a rookie professional league to an MLB-sponsored college summer league for 2021, the club here will sport a name other than that of a major league affiliate for the first time. Johnson City’s team is now known as the Doughboys. A copy of the sculpture “Spirit of the American Doughboy” by E.M. Viquesney, paying tribute to soldiers in World War I, stands in Memorial Park, near the stadium. The statue is not unique; well over a hundred exist, in at least 39 states.