Brooks Field is a

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 ...

located on the campus of the

University of North Carolina Wilmington The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW or UNC Wilmington) is a public research university in Wilmington, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina System and enrolls 17,499 undergraduate and graduate students eac ...

Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is the ...

. Brooks Field is the home of the

UNC Wilmington Seahawks baseball : ''For information on all University of North Carolina Wilmington sports, see UNC Wilmington Seahawks'' The UNC Wilmington Seahawks baseball team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of the University of North Carolina Wilmington in Wilmin ...

team and has hosted the Colonial Athletic Association baseball tournament a number of times (1989–90, 1993, 2004–11, 2014, 2017). The ballpark has a capacity of 3,500 people and first opened in 1989. In 2014 UNCW broke the 2009 record attendance of 3,608 (vs

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

) with 3,826 people (vs. #1

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Name

The stadium is named after former UNCW coach and athletic director Bill Brooks. He started the athletic program when UNCW was a

junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...

and served past the school becoming a Division I program and joining the

Colonial Athletic Association The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Most of its members are public universi ...

. Brooks served 40 years at the school, 27 as the baseball coach, with a career win–loss record of 574–292–5. His name, with the number 574, is on the wall in left field at Brooks Field.

Stadium design and features

Brooks Field is a symmetric park where it is 340 feet from

home plate A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers ...

to the

foul pole A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers ...

s and is 380 feet to deep

center field A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the Baseball positions, baseball and softball fielding position between Left fielder, left field and Right fielder, right field. In the numberi ...

. Seating consists of a main set of seats that extends from roughly the

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

line to the

first base A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

line. There are two sets of bleachers on each side of the main seating area. There is also a berm located behind the left field fence, which fans can also sit at. The stadium has one

concession stand A concession stand (American English, Canadian English), snack kiosk or snack bar (British English, Irish English) is a place where patrons can purchase snacks or food at a cinema, amusement park, zoo, aquarium, circus, fair, stadium, beach, swim ...

and a small team store behind the away dugout. A simple electronic scoreboard sits in right-center field.

Minor league history

The ballpark was home to the Southern League's Class AA

Port City Roosters The Port City Roosters were a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners from 1995 to 1996. They were located in Wilmington, North Carolina, and played their home games at Brooks Field o ...

in 1995 and 1996 and the

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

's Class A Wilmington Waves in 2001.

References

Sports venues in Wilmington, North Carolina Minor league baseball venues Baseball venues in North Carolina UNC Wilmington Seahawks baseball 1989 establishments in North Carolina Sports venues completed in 1989 {{NorthCarolina-baseball-venue-stub

Name

Stadium design and features

Minor league history

See also

References