On June 29, the Asheville Tourists (Low A; Sally League) will don special jerseys as they become the Asheville Hippies. Complete with colored tie-dye theme jerseys, the Tourists will take on the name Hippies as the result of a wager with the Greenville Drive.
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,” said Asheville Tourists president Brian DeWine.
The Tourists play Greenville 22 times in 2017 including Opening Night on April 13.
Asheville Hippies T-Shirts are currently available for fans to purchase at The Tourists Trap located at McCormick Field and online at TheTouristsTrap.com.