Ernie Shore Field
Ernie Shore Field is the name of a minor league baseball park in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It has been the home of the Winston-Salem entry in the Carolina League (currently the Winston-Salem Warthogs) since the park opened in 1956. It is located at 401 Deacon Boulevard, directly east of Groves Stadium, home of the Wake Forest University "Demon Deacons" football team.
The park was named for major league pitcher and North Carolina native Ernie Shore, who was a teammate of fellow pitcher Babe Ruth when they played for the Boston Red Sox during the 1910s. After Shore retired as a ballplayer, he served as Forsyth County Sheriff and baseball guru for many years. He helped spearhead the drive for a new ballpark, after the decades-old South Side Park had burned. The effort was successful, and the "Twins", as they were then called, had a new home. Since then, the team has gone through various nicknames and is currently called the "Warthogs".
The park was also the home field of the Demon Deacons baseball team until they opened Gene Hooks Stadium on campus in the early 1990s, and because Hooks Stadium lacks lights, some early-season and necessary night games are played here.
Ernie Shore Field' was used for some key scenes in the 1990 movie Mr. Destiny starring Jim Belushi and Linda Hamilton. In that movie, Belushi's character travels back in time to "try again" in a life-altering high school ball game.
With the resurgence of minor league baseball during the 1980s and 90s, Ernie Shore Field underwent many renovations to modernize the facility.
As of December 2006, tentative agreements have been put into place to sell Ernie Shore field to Wake Forest University after a new stadium is built in downtown Winston Salem for the Warthogs. [1]
