The weather in October here in Hampton Roads, to date, has been absolutely beautiful. Sunny skies, warm temperatures, low humidity, little or no rainfall, great for fall festivals, beach days maybe, and yes, exploring the baseball fields of Virginia and surrounding areas. And with a small window of opportunity for exploring Monday and needing a study break, I took full advantage and headed west to Colonial Heights, VA to visit historic Shepherd Stadium, home of the Tri-City Chili Peppers.

The drive from Virginia Beach to Colonial Heights is roughly 90 miles, give or take a few miles depending on your route. The ride includes small towns, tree lined highways, peanut farms as far as the eye can see, and rural Virginia communities. I took the most direct route I could – 264W to 13S to 58W to 460W, then some twists and turns once I was in Colonial Heights to wind up in the parking lot facing Shepherd Stadium. Prior to my drive, I did send an email over to the Colonial Heights Recreation Department and got a nice response and thumbs up to visit from Parks and Recreation Director Matt Spruill. It was a scenic and peaceful ride, made even sweeter knowing I could get into Shepherd, see the field up close, grab some cool photos, and not be a bother to anyone.

For those of you wondering, the Tri-City Chili Peppers are a summer collegiate baseball team that plays in the historic Coastal Plain League. I am still trying to piece together the connection with the Chili Peppers and Cosmic Baseball, but I am thinking they are one in the same. I have seen the Tri-City Chili Peppers face the Peninsula Pilots a few times at War Memorial Stadium in Hampton. And I have seen the Chili Pepper social media pages where they play under black light and glowing uniforms and a glowing baseball. And that the Cosmic Baseball Chili Peppers have grown in popularity over the past few years and are touring regionally and some places nationally. Sorry for my lack of Chili Pepper knowledge, here is a link to the Chili’s website for more information – Tri-City Chili Peppers.

At Shepherd, the gates just to the right of the front entrance were open for workers to go in and out. I cautiously stepped over extension cords and walked past machinery to enter the stadium’s main seating area. Nice old stadium, huge seating section behind home plate. I got a few photos behind home plate and then walked over to the left field bullpen area. There appeared to be a line of bleachers that were being moved around, perhaps to get some landscaping done during the offseason months. The gate next to the outfield fence was open so I took a quick stroll onto the field for some more views.

As I made my way back towards home plate, I noticed a painted mural that stretched from the main building behind home plate all the way down to the left field area I had just photographed. It had a title at the very beginning of the wall “Scoville Scale of Heat” and featured peppers from around the globe (I’m guessing) along with their heat index (again guessing.) I’m not a big hot chili pepper aficionado but the mural was pretty impressive. Very colorful.

I made my way through the backstop area and over to the right field picnic area and snapped a few more photos. The park was obviously in its offseason mode, so it didn’t quite have the baseball energy I usually feel when I visit stadiums during the regular season of the host team. There were a lot of workers and folks moving stuff in and around the stadium and others doing field cleanup. Pretty typical stuff for the offseason. Despite all that, I got some really great views of Shepherd and will definitely be back next Summer for a Chili Peppers game.

Quick mention, I stopped in at the Virginia Diner on the way home. BLT sandwich, A-plus. Applewood Bacon, Fried Green Sliced Tomatoes, delicious bread, amazing coleslaw. Topped it off with a tall Mountain Dew. Virginia Diner will definitely be in my “immediate return to” plans this fall!!!

It was a much needed study break this afternoon as I took a glorious ride west to Colonial Heights and Shepherd Stadium. Shepherd Stadium is a classic old-style baseball stadium, providing great fan experiences every game, easy to find, easy to park, and just a beautiful baseball field to visit any time of year. I was so psyched to get the thumbs up from Director Spruill this morning that the public was allowed to visit the stadium. And got some really fantastic views and photos of Shepherd today on a beautiful fall afternoon. Topped off with a delicious BLT, plus gorgeous fall weather, and wow I have to say, what a day. Overall, it was an amazing Colonial Heights baseball experience at historic Shepherd Stadium, home of the Tri-City Chili Peppers.

For more information on the history of Shepherd Stadium, Colonial Heights, VA head over to this facilities link on the City of Colonial Heights website – Shepherd Stadium.