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Burlington Athletic
Stadium / Burlington Indians
If you've been reading our series on the ballparks of North Carolina, you've seen some references to classic Carolina League ballparks. During the last night of our nine-ballpark road trip, we spent a great evening at a classic Carolina League ballpark: Burlington Athletic Stadium, the home of the Burlington Indians. That the Carolina League doesn't compete anymore in classic Carolina League ballparks (for the most part, anyway) is sad, but at least some of the great old ballparks are still in play; the Burlington Indians compete in the rookie-level Appalachian League, so you can drop by every summer and see professional ballplayers in action. The ballpark was originally located in Danville and served as the home of the Danville Leafs (Carolina League) from 1945 to 1958. The Leafs folded after the 1958 season, and the city of Burlington bought the whole thing for $5,000. Piece by piece the ballpark was moved to Burlington. In the current ballpark, the steel structure and roof are from that original Danville ballpark, but the original wooden grandstand floor and seats were replaced with aluminum decking and seats when the B-Tribe began play in 1986. Before the Appy League came to town the ballpark served as home to the Carolina League's Burlington Indians (1960-64), Burlington Senators (1965-1971) and Burlington Rangers (1972). Pro baseball returned in 1986 with the Burlington Indians. The feel at Burlington Athletic Park is the feel retro ballparks strive to emulate. The grandstand provides evening shade and a rooftop for a press box and a special seating area. There are no box seats in the place, but there are seat-back reserved bleachers in the grandstand. Wooden bleachers can be found down each line, with a small kids' area and a picnic area down the third-base line. New in 2004: a beer garden down the right-field line.
This is not a great or historic ballpark, but it is a comfortable one and a place where the residents of Burlington come to gather. In the end, ballparks like Burlington Athletic Stadium are the backbone of minor-league baseball: even though there are no fancy luxury boxes or seating services by a waitstaff, no one is calling for a replacement -- and as long as ballparks like this are around, there's hope for professional baseball.
Concessions Three cheers to the Indians staff for stocking local soft drinks. In all the Carolina ballparks we hit, this was the only one to offer Cheerwine soda. Cheerwine is a cherry-favored soda and sweeter than all heck. Your teeth will ache after drinking a glass, but that's OK: it's refreshing to see something other than Pepsi and Coke at a ballpark. Also available: Royal Crown Cola, Diet Rite, Sun Drop and Sunkist.
For
the Kids Kids were also flocking to Bingo, the Indians' mascot.
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