Baseball is the national pastime for a reason, and each pocket of the country has its own unique connection to the sport. To celebrate the 250th anniversary of this nation, we’re taking you on a summer road trip across the U.S. with Baseball in America, presented by Booking.com, 50 stories from all 50 states. Follow along here.
Tucked away amid the rolling mountains of Boone, N.C., is a baseball oasis that seems almost too beautiful to be real. But Beaver Field is no product of any photographic fakery. It's just the extremely photogenic home of the Appalachian State Mountaineers baseball team.
A darling of social media, with its perfectly manicured outfield grass and serene sea of stunning green hues, Beaver Field has housed App State's home games since 2007. Not only is the drone-worthy stadium a point of pride for App State and its players, it's also a great place to watch a game.
The stadium has a capacity of about 1,200 fans and the surroundings give it an intimate feel. Seating includes grandstands behind the plate, a grass berm along the first-base line and a fan deck in right-center field. For those early-season games when mountain temperatures tend to dip, there are fire pits and Adirondack chairs that allow fans to stay warm and cheer on the Mountaineers in a setting akin to a cozy backyard hang with friends.
The playing field itself is an AstroTurf Diamond Series surface, allowing the Mountaineers to play in almost any weather. A baseball diamond in the middle of a three-dimensional postcard AND it has a playing surface that can handle almost anything Mother Nature throws its way? That makes Beaver Field pretty much a baseball player's dream, which perhaps is why App State tends to win when it plays there.
Consider: The team had a 19-game winning streak at Beaver Field from 2009 to 2010 that was the longest in the country at the time. Then, a few years later, the Mountaineers went an astounding 24-2 at their park in 2012. Quite the home-field advantage.
Given the many baseball fans who've seen the picture-perfect field on social media, it doesn't exactly qualify as a hidden gem, despite being seemingly carved into a lush forest.
But with a visual allure that seems tailor-made for flyovers and wall posters, the otherwise unassuming stadium in the North Carolina mountains does offer a scene that gives almost dreamlike vibes. So, one would be forgiven for posing a question usually associated with another scenic and serene baseball diamond.
Is this heaven? No, it's Beaver Field.