Entrance to the park
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Former names | Ernie Shore Field |
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Location | Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA |
Coordinates | 36°7′47″N 80°15′8″W / 36.12972°N 80.25222°WCoordinates: 36°7′47″N 80°15′8″W / 36.12972°N 80.25222°W |
Owner | Wake Forest University |
Capacity | 6,280 |
Surface | AstroTurf GameDay Grass 3D 52H |
Scoreboard | Daktronics |
Opened | 1956 |
Tenants | |
Winston-Salem Red Birds (CL) (1957–1960) Winston-Salem Red Sox (CL) (1961–1994) Winston-Salem Warthogs (CL) (1995–2008) Winston-Salem Dash (CL) (2009) Wake Forest Demon Deacons (NCAA) (2009–present) |
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Website | |
Official website |
Gene Hooks Field at Wake Forest Baseball Park is a collegiate and former minor-league baseball park in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA. The full-time home of the Wake Forest University baseball team, starting in 2009, it was also previously home of the Winston-Salem entry in the Carolina League (currently the Winston-Salem Dash), a role it played since the park opened in 1956.
The ballpark is located at 401 Deacon Boulevard, directly east of BB&T Field, home of the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons football team. It is bounded by Deacon Boulevard to the south (first base), Shorefair Drive to the east (right field), and BB&T Field to the west (third base). West 32nd Street lies to the north (left field) behind a group of buildings and a parking lot.
Formerly known as Ernie Shore Field, 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 "Dash".
The park was also the home field of the Demon Deacons baseball team until they opened Gene Hooks Stadium on campus in 1981. Because Hooks Stadium lacked lights, some early-season and necessary night games continued to be played at Ernie Shore Field. Like their now-demolished on-campus ballpark, the renamed Ernie Shore Field honors former Wake Forest athletic director Gene Hooks.