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📍 Nashville, Tennessee
⚾ Home of the Nashville Sounds

With their roots tracing back nearly half a century, the Nashville Sounds are the longest-running professional sports franchise in the Music City and have become a beloved part of the region’s cultural fabric over the years. The Sounds play in front of some of the biggest crowds in the minors at First Horizon Park, their home for more than a decade and arguably the most lively ballpark in Triple-A baseball.

Minor league baseball has always been a part of the Nashville sports scene, with a slew of teams taking up residence at the ballpark at Sulphur Dell. A quirky stadium that was redesigned on several occasions, the park was known for its short porch in right field and sloping outfield grass, features which earned it the nickname “Sulphur Hell.” From 1885 until 1963, several squads played here, including the Americans, Tigers, Seraphs and – most notably – the Nashville Vols. The Vols competed for over 60 years until their disbandment in 1963 and Sulphur Dell was subsequently demolished six years later. Today, First Horizon Park sits on the same site as the unorthodox venue and features a walk through Music City baseball history just outside the right field gate, with signage on the back of the batter’s eye serving as an additional nod to old Sulphur Dell.

In the post-Sulphur Dell days, Nashville went without baseball for almost 15 years until the founding of the Sounds in 1978. An expansion franchise in the Double-A Southern League, the team led all of Minor League Baseball in attendance in their inaugural season and would later move up to the Triple-A ranks in 1985. From their inception until 2014, the Sounds competed at Herschel Greer Stadium, a 10,000 seat park located on the site of an old Civil War installation called Fort Negley.

Prior to the 1993 season, the iconic guitar-shaped scoreboard that Greer came to be known by was installed. Although the venue would eventually be replaced by First Horizon Park, the unique scoreboard style was carried over in the form of a state-of-the-art videoboard. This guitar-shaped monstrosity remains the most eye-catching feature of the ballpark, which opened its doors in 2015 at a cost of over $91 million. The construction of First Horizon Park undoubtedly helped breathe new life into the Sounds franchise, driving up attendance and creating a more engaging gameday experience for the team’s passionate fanbase.

Crammed into a city block with apartments, restaurants and other new development on all sides, the stadium is the true centerpiece of the North Capitol district. The area was formerly a heavily industrialized neighborhood and was dominated by parking lots for many years following the demolition of Sulphur Dell, but has been revitalized in the years since First Horizon Park was built. Situated less than a mile from the neon-lit honky-tonks and skyscrapers of downtown Nashville, the ballpark also provides a picturesque cityscape backdrop for ballgames.

Inside the stadium, the Sounds are big on providing entertainment that’s more than just baseball, a counter-intuitive methodology that seems to be effective in drawing larger crowds during otherwise lackluster weeknights. In right field, a permanent 9-hole mini golf course is a major draw for families, featuring mostly Nashville-centric themes. Ping pong, cornhole and basketball are among the some of the other available activities, which also include pitching games, a big bouncy house and a wiffle ball diamond in the rf corner designed just for kids. Leaning more towards the adult aspect of things, the ballpark boasts several unique stops for alcoholic beverages, such as the Band Box in the outfield that features an open bar and a multitude of frozen boozy drinks. Another cool spot called the Third and Home Brewery is actually located outside the gates but has a balcony seating area that offers full views of the field.

And, of course, the country music tie-ins here are plentiful. In addition to the many Nashville-born tunes that float through the air on any given night, the Sounds also run the “Country Legends Race”, a mad dash of mascots during the middle of the fifth inning that sees Johnny Cash, Reba, Dolly Parton and George Jones characters compete for bragging rights for a day.

With MLB rumored to be considering the Music City for its next expansion franchise, the future of the Sounds is anything but certain. What is known, though, is how unfortunate it would be for the city to lose their stellar ballpark and cherished team due to First Horizon Park’s inability to be expandable to Major League standards. But for now, with an unchanging situation here in Nashville, a Sounds game still has that fun energy and their home is still an amazing place to soak in the sights and sounds of both the city and the game.