The Newburgh Night Hawks were a

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

baseball team based in

Newburgh, New York Newburgh is a city in the U.S. state of New York, within Orange County. With a population of 28,856 as of the 2020 census, it is a principal city of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area. Located north of New York City, a ...

. The team played in the

Northeast League The Northeast League was a professional independent baseball league that operated in the Northeastern United States from 1995 until 1998 and from 2003 until 2004. Between 1999 and 2002, the league was part of the Northern League after the two lea ...

, a professional

independent baseball Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independen ...

league, and as such none of its teams had an affiliation with

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), ...

. The team existed from 1995 to 1996 and played its home games at

Delano-Hitch Stadium Delano-Hitch Stadium is a stadium in Newburgh (city), New York, Newburgh, New York (state), New York; it has a current capacity of 3,100. Early years Baseball in Newburgh goes back to the 1860s: the Hudson River club played from 1863 to 1867, com ...

in Newburgh.

History

The Night Hawks were one of the six original Northeast League franchises in 1995. In that first season all six teams were located in the state of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. The Night Hawks finished the first season in fourth place with a 28-41 record, 23 1/2 games out of first place. The Night Hawks were one of only three teams that would return for a second season. Although the team brought in about 1,000 fans per game, team owner Bill Cummings sold the team leaving $30,000 in debt. The Night Hawks had a fairly successful season in the following year, they won the first half of the league season and finished with a 55-25 record. They lost the league championship to the

Albany-Colonie Diamond Dogs The Albany-Colonie Diamond Dogs were an independent baseball league team based in Albany, New York from 1995 to 2002. The team played at Heritage Park in Colonie. The Diamond Dogs competed in the Northeast League from 1995–98 and then in the ...

three games to one. The team would feature former big leaguers,

Joel Bennett Joel Bennett (born January 31, 1970) is an American former professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to . He batted and threw right-handed. Bennett was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 21st round of the 19 ...

and

Ken Dixon Kenneth John Dixon (born October 17, 1960), is a former professional baseball player who pitched in Major League Baseball from 1984 to 1987. He was drafted in 1980 by the Baltimore Orioles in the third round out of Amherst County High School. D ...

They averaged better than 1,000 fans per game. At the end of the 1996 season, new team owner Jeff Kunion, unhappy with the progress of plans to improve aging Delano-Hitch Stadium, decided to fold the team.http://archive.recordonline.com/archive/2001/03/31/semigrap.htm The team was replaced by the

Waterbury Spirit Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 202 ...

for the 1997 season.

References

Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010) teams Professional baseball teams in New York (state) Defunct independent baseball league teams Defunct baseball teams in New York (state) 1995 establishments in New York (state) 1996 disestablishments in New York (state) Baseball teams established in 1995 Baseball teams disestablished in 1996 {{NewYork-baseball-team-stub