Welcome to the Circus of Baseball: A Story of the Perfect Summer at the Perfect Ballpark at the Perfect Time

So, in search of baseball simplicity, they turned their attention to what had started the season as a joke but had increasingly become a source of what MLB seemed to have lost the ability to produce. Fun. What was more fun than a basketball player—the basketball player—walking away from a $4 million NBA salary (which, at the time, was astronomical)

There was even a limited-edition series of Asheville Tourists white wine with Ted E. sketched onto the bottle. Gary had done a deal with a local grocery store chain and Nabisco to keep Ted’s suitcase stocked with cookies that he could hand out to the kids. It was all so very exciting. It was all so very nineties.

There are few generators of positive civic energy that can match that of a brand-new ballpark in the center of town. That’s why so many of those cities sink hopeful millions of dollars into building stadiums, collective fingers crossed that it might lure a baseball team. When it does, that ballpark becomes a true community hub. There is a renewed u