Saturday, September 13

There's a lot going on right now, whether it's Single-A or High-A playoffs, the final week of the Double-A season or the penultimate week of the Triple-A campaign. Enjoy it while you can, if you can, and take solace in the fact that the Baseball Traveler newsletter is a year-round concern. Here, there is no offseason. Let's talk about Minor League Baseball.   

For the Knoxville Smokies, the 2025 season marked a new beginning and a milestone anniversary.

The Smokies, Double-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, returned to Knoxville this season following 24 years in nearby Kodak (where they were known as the Tennessee Smokies). They now play at Covenant Health Ballpark, a new facility located on the periphery of Knoxville’s Old City neighborhood in what was a warehouse district. Their debut season at Covenant Health Park came 100 years after the first professional team named the Knoxville Smokies took the field.

That 1925 Smokies squad was named in honor of Tennessee's then-ongoing effort to establish what became Great Smoky Mountains National Park. There are bears in the National Park, of course, so the logo works as a simultaneous signifier of local surroundings and Major League (Cubs) affiliation. 

Smokies Ballpark, in Kodak, billed itself as "America's Friendliest Ballpark," and that tagline has carried over to Covenant Health Park. It is located a short walk from Knoxville's downtown, with the route sloping downward into Old City's business district and then giving way to a tangle of highway overpasses before reaching the main entrance on the first-base side of the park.

A statue outside that entrance commemorates Knoxville's first Black Little League team, which took the field in 1951. This was two years before the Smokies themselves integrated. Their first Black player, Jim Tugerson, also has a statue at the ballpark.

The slow ascent up those wide, colorfully painted stairs creates a sense of anticipation as one approaches the level ground of the spacious wraparound concourse.

There are a lot of interesting things to see at this ballpark, which also serves as the home of the One Knoxville SC soccer team. Right field is home to a scoreboard in the shape of Tennessee. Like most things, it looks best at night.

The state scoreboard's jagged eastern edges hover over the roof of the Modelo Watering Hole bar and social area (you know, the sort of ballpark spot where you can play some cornhole). The Watering Hole is framed by a new but vintage-looking water tower, built in the style of one that used to be located in the same spot.  

My favorite design element of Covenant Health Park is the incorporation of First Creek into the facility itself, as it flows in between the 10-foot outfield wall and the concourse. First Creek also ran behind Bill Meyer Stadium, home of the Knoxville Smokies from 1957-99. Everything old is new again.

The FirstBank Bridge, to which a special lacquer was applied to give it a rusty sheen, spans the creek in the left-field corner.

New residential buildings loom over the ballpark, with Yardley Flats on the third-base side and The Delaney on the first-base side. 

These luxe surroundings are part of what is a now-common strategy, with the ballpark anchoring a larger development project consisting of residential, retail and restaurants. This one was spearheaded by Randy Boyd of Boyd Sports, a native of the city (and former Tennessee gubernatorial candidate) who bought the Smokies in 2013. 

The kids' play area is shaded, underneath a raised portion of Yardley Flats. The home and visiting bullpens are nearby as well, on the other side of the concourse. 

The home dugout is on the first-base side of the ballpark.

The boys in the home dugout are cheered on by mascots Jackson, Smokie Joe and (not pictured) Knox. 

Jackson, a bear, is named after one of the streets that run alongside the ballpark. Smokie Joe, a man, is back with the team after a two-decade hiatus in which he allegedly lived behind the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles. (In a corresponding move, Tennessee Smokies mascot Homer Hound retired from baseball and moved to L.A. at the behest of “One Tree Hill” star Chad Michael Murray.)

Concession options abound at Covenant Health Park, as they do at any new stadium, and barbecue is a big part of it. Executive chef Aaron Gonnelly told me he has the best job in Knoxville, because "Being able to come in here as an executive chef and opening something from the ground up is every chef's dream."

Gonnelly added, "One thing we really tried to incorporate here at Covenant Health Park is the smoker on site, which we're really fortunate to have."

In the above photo please find the following items, starting at the top and moving clockwise:

South Knox Philly: Pulled pork, beer cheese, fried onions and peppers.

Chopped Brisket Sandwich: The brisket is smoked for seven and a half hours, The fries are dusted with a proprietary ranch and cilantro-based seasoning.

Pulled Pork Platter: Served with house made chips, beans and slaw. Smoked overnight for 14 and a half hours.

Knoxville Hot Macaroni and Cheese: Buttermilk fried chicken tenders, white macaroni and cheese. Tossed in what Gonnelly calls "Knoxville hot sauce, a little bit sweeter than your typical Nashville [hot sauce], it's got that smoky heat in there."

To sample these items I recruited Designated Eater Takumi Sato, Oregon native and current resident of Salem, Va. He came to the game with his son, Parker, motivated by plentiful free food and the desire to catch up with their favorite player: Rikuu Nishida of the visiting Birmingham Barons.

Takumi liked everything but was most enamored with the pulled pork, as it could be eaten like a nacho dish via the sturdy housemade chips. He also praised the "nice and tender" brisket and the "sweet and heat" of the mac and cheese. 

If you can't make it to a Smokies game, you can always listen to the excellent broadcast team of Mick Gillispie and Richie Juliano. I spent a couple innings with them in the booth and, clearly, a good time was had by all. 

If you visit Covenant Health Ballpark, it's more likely than not that a good time will be had by you. In addition to being the self-proclaimed friendliest ballpark, it is spacious, scenic and architecturally interesting. 

Thanks to my travel buddy, MLB live content coordinator Braeden Botts, who joined me in Knoxville and took many of the photos seen above (all of the best ones). He also shot and helped assemble the video linked to HERE and through the photo at the top of this newsletter.

And thank YOU for reading. Please tell friends and foes alike to subscribe to this newsletter and follow me on Instagram (@thebensbiz) and X (@bensbiz). I appreciate you.

Contact Benjamin Hill

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