Truist Stadium
Winston-Salem, NC
Review by Gary
On a warm day in July, 2022, I had the opportunity to meet the voice of the Winston-Salem Dash, Andrew Murphy, at his “office” in the downtown part of this North Carolina city. With their South Atlantic League team on a road trip, Andrew graciously met me in the lobby of his “office building”, a grand structure known as Truist Stadium.
The Dash moved into their new home after spending a year or so at legendary Ernie Shore Field, where Winston-Salem teams had played continuously since 1956. Most teams bring sentimental items from one ballpark to another, like foul poles, home plates and such. The Dash brought along Ernie Shore’s carousel, which now spins merrily in the large kids play area behind the batter’s eye.
From the moment you see Truist Stadium from Business I-40, it is obvious that a huge amount of effort was put into the outside of this facility. 26,000 bricks were used to build the exterior of the palace that sits in the side of hill, surrounded by a seven-foot high black wrought iron fence. The stadium’s attractive exterior combined with a view of Winston-Salem’s skyline gives you the impression that you are in a downtown stadium, yet feels like you’re in the suburbs.
Inside the ballpark, I was impressed with what felt like a Triple-A facility. Andrew reminded me that the Dash play in the Advance SINGLE A league. With a capacity of 5,500, Truist Stadium seems like a much larger stadium. There are six types of seating at the ballpark not including the luxury suites. The park’s only grassy berm area uniquely wraps around the left-field foul pole and is steep enough to get some great views of the ballplayers, so long as you secure anything (i.e., balls, helmet sundaes, small children) that you don’t want to roll down to the fence below. The spacing between the rows of seating in the main bowl is larger than I have seen elsewhere so fans aren’t climbing over one another like Bugs Bunny in a theater.
A right-field walking bridge connects the main seating area with the raised outfield concourse and is a great congregating spot. It also enables fans to walk completely around the park to view the action either by standing along the rails or in different sorts of seats. In 2022, the Dash added a converted freight rail metal storage unit from which craft beers are sold. Built atop this unit is a wooden seating deck, complete with comfy chairs and thick all-weather cushions to see the game below with a refreshing beverage in hand. An immense covered concourse is found under the main grandstand and offers a wide variety of morsels to chow upon.
The playing surface features a cool outfield wall of differing heights and distances, including short corners in left field (315’) and right (323’). Truist Stadium fulfills all the requirements we like in ballparks these days: a 360-degree concourse, shaded seating areas, good food variety, unique field dimensions and great folks like Andrew who make visiting enjoyable. Thanks for a great tour, Andrew!
2022
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