Burlington Athletic Stadium

Burlington Athletic Stadium is a vintage baseball stadium in the central North Carolina Piedmont city of Burlington. It seats 3500 and serves as the home field for the Burlington Sock Puppets baseball team of the summer collegiate Appalachian League. It was previously home to the Burlington Royals Minor League Baseball team of the then-rookie-level Appalachian League. Originally built in Danville, Virginia, it was purchased in 1959 for $5,000 after the Danville Leafs team folded. After being dismantled in Danville, hauled to its present location and reconstructed, it was ready for baseball again in 1960.[1][2] At that point, the ball club left their previous home at Graham Athletic Park, a field now used by Graham Middle School.

The ballpark is located at 1450 Graham Street (southwest, home plate); parking, houses and Beaumont Avenue (west, third base); buildings and Cloverdale Street (north, left field); Community Center, parking and South Graham Hopedale Road (east, right field); and buildings and Hanover Road (southeast, first base).

The ballpark was known historically as Fairchild Stadium after the adjacent Fairchild Park city recreation area and nearby World War II Fairchild Aircraft manufacturing plant. It played host to many games in the legendary original Carolina League, and appears momentarily in Ron Shelton's 1988 film homage to the minors, "Bull Durham." Major League Baseball stars who played for the Burlington Indians include CC Sabathia, the New York Yankees (and, formerly the Cleveland Indians) pitcher who won the 2007 Cy Young Award, Bartolo Colón, the Los Angeles Angels pitcher who won the 2005 Cy Young Award, and Manny Ramírez, Most Valuable Player in the Boston Red Sox 2004 World Series championship. Historic greats who once made Fairchild Stadium their home field include another Red Sox legend, Luis Tiant, and longtime New York Yankees pitcher and coach Mel Stottlemyre. Also, Cleveland Indians player Jim Thome played for the Burlington Indians.

The park was also the site of the eight-hour and 15-minute, 27-inning marathon between the Burlington Indians and Bluefield Orioles on June 24–25, 1988. The WBBB-AM radio play-by-play call of that game by Indians' announcer Richard Musterer stands as the longest continuous single-game solo broadcast in baseball history.[3]

References
  1. Holaday, J. Chris. Professional Baseball in North Carolina: An Illustrated City-by-city History, 1901-1996. p. 26. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1998. Print.
  2. http://www.littleballparks.com/Stadium/2004/Burlington_NC/BurlingtonNC.htm
  3. McKay, K. "The 27-Inning Stretch". Our State Magazine. Retrieved October 5, 2020.


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