Fleming Stadium is a sports

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 ...

Wilson, North Carolina Wilson is a city in and the county seat of Wilson County, North Carolina, United States. Located approximately east of the capital city of Raleigh, it is served by the interchange of Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 264. Wilson had an estimated p ...

. It is primarily used for

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

and is the home of the

Wilson Tobs The Wilson Tobs are an amateur baseball team playing in the Coastal Plain League, an NCAA-sanctioned collegiate summer baseball league. The team plays its home games at Fleming Stadium in Wilson, North Carolina Wilson is a city in and the ...

of the

Coastal Plain League The Coastal Plain League (CPL) is a wood-bat collegiate summer baseball league, featuring college players recruited from throughout the nation. The league takes its name from the Class D level Coastal League which operated in the area from 19 ...

. It opened in 1939 and has a capacity of 3,000 people. The grounds are also home to the North Carolina Baseball Museum. It also has bricks with names of the donors right in front of the museum. The stadium has been used by teams in several different minor leagues over the decades, including the Class D

, the

Bi-State League The Bi-State League was an American baseball minor league formed in 1934 with teams in Virginia and North Carolina. The league held together for nine seasons, being represented by ten cities from North Carolina and eight from Virginia. Only the ...

, and the

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 ...

. The

Carolina Mudcats The Carolina Mudcats are a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Zebulon, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh, and play their home games a ...

used the ballpark as their temporary home in 1991, before opening

Five County Stadium Five County Stadium is a baseball stadium located in Zebulon, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh. It is the home of the Carolina Mudcats of the Carolina League. The ballpark, which was opened in 1991 and extensively renovated in 1999, has a capa ...

Zebulon Zebulun (; also ''Zebulon'', ''Zabulon'', or ''Zaboules'') was, according to the Books of Book of Genesis, Genesis and Book of Numbers, Numbers,Genesis 46:14 the last of the six sons of Jacob and Leah (Jacob's tenth son), and the founder of the ...

in mid-season.

North Carolina Baseball Museum

The North Carolina Baseball Museum is a museum located in Wilson, North Carolina that honors those past and present

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), ...

players and

Negro league The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

players from the state of North Carolina. The museum contains vintage baseball cards, memorabilia, books, and other baseball memorabilia. The museum has a main focus on 7 National Baseball Hall of Famers that were born in North Carolina. These players include

Luke Appling Lucius Benjamin "Luke" Appling (April 2, 1907 – January 3, 1991), nicknamed "Old Aches and Pains" was an American shortstop in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Chicago White Sox (1930–1950). He was elected to the Base ...

Rick Ferrell Richard Benjamin Ferrell (October 12, 1905 – July 27, 1995) was an American professional baseball player, coach, scout, and executive. He played for 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a catcher for the St. Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox ...

, Jim "Catfish" Hunter,

Gaylord Perry Gaylord Jackson Perry (September 15, 1938 – December 1, 2022) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a right-handed pitcher for eight different teams from 1962 to 1983. During a 22-year baseb ...

Buck Leonard Walter Fenner "Buck" Leonard (September 8, 1907 – November 27, 1997) was an American first baseman in Negro league baseball and in the Mexican League. After growing up in North Carolina, he played for the Homestead Grays between 1934 and 1950, ...

Enos Slaughter Enos Bradsher Slaughter (April 27, 1916 – August 12, 2002), nicknamed "Country", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) right fielder. He played for 19 seasons on four major league teams from 1938 to 1942 and 1946 to 1959. He is noted prima ...

, and Hoyt Wilheim. A separate room contains baseball memorabilia of the state's colleges and local high schools. The museum also provides focus on Negro league players such as Buck Leonard and

women in baseball Women have a long history in American baseball and many women's teams have existed over the years. Baseball was played at women's colleges in New York and New England as early as the mid-nineteenth century; teams were formed at Vassar College, ...

. Other signed memorabilia can also been seen throughout the museum. The museum hosts an annual Hot Stove Dinner as a fundraiser. The first speaker of the annual dinner was

Stan Musial Stanley Frank Musial (; born Stanislaw Franciszek Musial; November 21, 1920 – January 19, 2013), nicknamed "Stan the Man", was an American baseball outfielder and first baseman. Widely considered to be one of the greatest and most consis ...

. The museum is located at Fleming Stadium which is the home of

, a collegiate summer league team in the Coastal Plain League.

References

External links

Info about the ballparkNorth Carolina Baseball Museum2014 TV story about the ballpark's 75th anniversary
Minor league baseball venues Wilson, North Carolina Baseball venues in North Carolina Buildings and structures in Wilson County, North Carolina 1939 establishments in North Carolina Sports venues completed in 1939 North Carolina Baseball Museum North Carolina Baseball Museum {{NorthCarolina-baseball-venue-stub