North Knoxville ballfields upgraded, to be baseball nonprofit’s home complex

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — The Christenberry Ballfields in North Knoxville have been renovated through a grant from the National Amateur Baseball Federation, a nonprofit that hosts over 50 regional tournaments, plus eight national championship tournaments each year. The upgrades include new infields, scoreboards, fencing, and more.

The improvements follow the NABF and the City of Knoxville agreeing to make Christenberry Park NABF’s home baseball complex in 2023. The funds from NABF were used to install turf infields on all four baseball/softball fields, new scoreboards, video boards, perimeter fencing, multiple concession areas and more.

“We have camera systems being installed throughout the park and camera systems on the field. So players, so practices and games are all live-streamed and and filmed. And players can pull their highlights after games and use that for recruiting purposes to help with college,” said Buzz McNish, the president of the Knoxville Falcons and member of the NABF Board of Directors.

McNish shared that the total cost of the improvements was about $1.2 million and the NABF was the biggest contributor to the funding.

“We’ve worked with the city to get a lot of other things done. So yeah, several people have worked on the project… We got a whole lot more than what we thought we were going to get out of it. So, it’s good for the community,” said McNish.

Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon shared that by the end of 2024, more than 6,000 players and more than 400 teams from across the United States and Canada are expected to play on these fields. The fields are also home to Fulton High School’s baseball and softball teams as well as Knoxville’s Falcon Youth leagues.

“We’ve got teams from all over the United States and Canada playing this weekend. So yeah, it’s good for the economy. It’s good for this neighborhood, you know, it’s something Knoxville can be proud of,” said McNish.

The city also recently invested over a quart of a million dollars to install a new playground at the park. Kincannon said the playground would help make sure there is something for everyone at the park.

“While some of us like to watch baseball intensively the whole time, others like to play on a playground. So, we have something for everybody here at this facility, so I’m really proud, really grateful,” said Kincannon.

These improvements are also part of a trend bringing baseball to Knoxville with the new Smokies Statium set to open in March 2025 . In 2023, NABF Executive Director Derek Topik said that the growth potential for baseball in the City of Knoxville is tremendous.

The Christenberry Ballfields are located at 931 Oglewood Drive in Knoxville. The fields are adjacent to Christenberry Elementary and the Christenberry Community Center.

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