Burlington Athletic Stadium is a baseball

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Burlington, North Carolina Burlington is a city in Alamance County, North Carolina, Alamance and Guilford County, North Carolina, Guilford counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the principal city of the Burlington, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Are ...

. It seats 3,500 and serves as the home field for the

Burlington Sock Puppets The Burlington Sock Puppets are a summer collegiate baseball team of the Appalachian League. They are located in Burlington, North Carolina, and play their home games at Burlington Athletic Stadium, informally nicknamed "Sockville". History ...

of the

Appalachian League The Appalachian League is a collegiate summer baseball league that operates in the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Designed for rising freshmen and sophomores using wood bats, its season runs from ...

. The Sock Puppets were previously known as the

Burlington Royals The Burlington Royals were a minor league baseball team in Burlington, North Carolina, United States. They were a Rookie-level team in the Appalachian League. The team was affiliated with the Cleveland Indians from 1986 to 2006 as the Burlington I ...

(2007–2020) and Burlington Indians (1986–2006) when the Appalachian League was a rookie league affiliated with Minor League Baseball prior to Major League Baseball's 2020 reorganization of the minor leagues. Originally built in

Danville, Virginia Danville is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States, located in the Southside Virginia region and on the fall line of the Dan River. It was a center of tobacco production and was an area of Confederate activity ...

and known as League Park, the stadium was purchased in 1958 for $5,000 after the

Danville Leafs The Danville Leafs were a professional minor league baseball team that played in the city of Danville, Virginia. During 1935–1942, they were also known as the Danville-Schoolfield Leafs. History Professional baseball first made its appearance i ...

folded. After being dismantled in Danville, it was hauled to its present location and rebuilt. It reopened for play in 1960. At that point, the team left their previous home at Graham Athletic Park, which is now used by Graham Middle School. The ballpark was known historically as Fairchild Stadium, after the adjacent Fairchild Park and nearby World War II

Fairchild Aircraft Fairchild was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company based at various times in Farmingdale, New York; Hagerstown, Maryland; and San Antonio, Texas. History Early aircraft The company was founded by Sherman Fairchild in 1 ...

manufacturing plant. It played host to many games in the original

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...

, and appears in

Ron Shelton Ronald Wayne Shelton (born September 15, 1945) is an American film director and screenwriter and former minor league baseball infielder. Shelton is known for the many films he has made about sports. His 1988 film ''Bull Durham'', based in part on ...

's 1988 film, "

Bull Durham ''Bull Durham'' is a 1988 American romantic comedy sports film. It is partly based upon the minor-league baseball experiences of writer/director Ron Shelton and depicts the players and fans of the Durham Bulls, a minor-league baseball team in ...

." Burlington Athletic Stadium is also known to have played host to many

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

stars beginning their careers. Notable former Burlington Indians include

CC Sabathia Carsten Charles Sabathia Jr. (born July 21, 1980) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the New York Yankees. He also played for the Cleveland Indians and Milwauke ...

Bartolo Colón Bartolo Colón (born May 24, 1973), nicknamed "Big Sexy," is a Dominican-American professional baseball pitcher. He has played for 11 different Major League Baseball (MLB) teams: the Cleveland Indians (1997–2002), Montreal Expos (2002), Chicago ...

, and

Manny Ramírez Manuel Arístides Ramírez Onelcida (born May 30, 1972) is a Dominican Americans (Dominican Republic), Dominican-American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for parts of 19 seasons. He played with ...

. 2018

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

inductee

Jim Thome James Howard Thome (; born August 27, 1970) is an American former professional baseball corner infielder and designated hitter, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 22 seasons (1991–2012). He played for six different teams during th ...

also began his career in Burlington. Historic greats who once made Fairchild Stadium their home field include another Red Sox legend,

Luis Tiant Luis Clemente Tiant Vega () (born November 23, 1940) is a Cuban former Major League Baseball (MLB) right-handed starting pitcher. He pitched in MLB for 19 years, primarily for the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox. Tiant compiled a 22 ...

, and longtime

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

pitcher and coach

Mel Stottlemyre Melvin Leon Stottlemyre Sr. (November 13, 1941 – January 13, 2019) was an American professional baseball pitcher and pitching coach. He played for 11 seasons in Major League Baseball, all for the New York Yankees, and coached for 23 seasons, ...

. Former Burlington Royals who played at Burlington Athletic Stadium include

Nicky Lopez Nicholas Lopez (born March 13, 1995) is an American professional baseball shortstop for the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the fifth round of the 2016 MLB draft, and made his MLB d ...

Salvador Pérez Salvador Johan Pérez Diaz (born May 10, 1990), nicknamed "Salvy", is a Venezuelan-American professional baseball catcher for the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He is a seven-time MLB All-Star, five-time Gold Glove Award win ...

, and

Wil Myers William Bradford Myers (born December 10, 1990) is an American professional baseball outfielder and first baseman for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Tampa Bay Rays and San Diego Padre ...

. The park was also the site of the longest continuous single-game broadcast in baseball history. The 27-inning marathon between the Burlington Indians and Bluefield Orioles lasted eight hours and fifteen minutes, and occurred over two days on June 24–25, 1988. Indians' announcer Richard Musterer called the entire game for WBBB-AM.

References

External links

Burlington Athletic Stadium Views – ''Ball Parks of the Minor Leagues''
Minor league baseball venues Baseball venues in North Carolina Sports venues in Alamance County, North Carolina 1958 establishments in North Carolina Sports venues completed in 1958 {{NorthCarolina-baseball-venue-stub