The Ditch | |
 | |
 | |
| Location | Newburgh, New York, United States |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 41°29′56″N74°01′31″W / 41.49889°N 74.02528°W |
| Owner | City of Newburgh |
| Capacity | 3,100 |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Built | 1926 |
| Opened | 1926 |
| Renovated | 1998 |
| Tenants | |
| Newburgh Newts; Newburgh Hummingbirds, Newburgh Nighthawks, Newburgh Black Diamonds (former) | |
Delano-Hitch Stadium is a stadium in Newburgh, New York; it has a current capacity of 3,100.
Baseball in Newburgh goes back to the 1860s: the Hudson River club played from 1863 to 1867, compiling an 18–18 record against many of the top teams of the day. Several other short-lived pro teams called the city home before World War I, including the Newburgh Taylor-Mades (aka Hill Climbers or Hillies, Hudson River League, 1903–1907); the Newburgh Dutchmen (New York-New Jersey League, 1913) and the Newburgh Hillclimbers (Atlantic League, 1914).
In 1916, Mrs. Annie Delano Hitch (aunt of Franklin Delano Roosevelt) donated land to the City of Newburgh for a "driving park", later known as Delano-Hitch Recreation Park. The stadium was opened in 1926, and has been primarily used for baseball. Four professional teams have called Delano-Hitch home: the Newburgh Hummingbirds in 1946, the Newburgh Nighthawks in 1995–96, the Newburgh Black Diamonds in 1998, and the Newburgh Newts briefly in 2015.
During the next half-century, the stadium was used by various amateur and semi-pro baseball teams (including the Hudson Valley Rookie League's Newburgh Mets in mid-1980s) and Pop Warner football from 1960s till the 1980s. The semi-pro football Newburgh Raiders called Delano-Hitch home from 1991 to 1996, winning four Empire Football League championships; despite their success, the EFL unanimously voted to boot Newburgh out in 1997 for a variety of reasons, including the fact that Delano-Hitch wasn't really suitable for football. [1]
In 1995, owner Bill Cummings brought the Newburgh Nighthawks to town, as a franchise in the new Northeast League (now the Can-Am League). Despite decent attendance figures of about 1,000 per game, Cummings lost over $30,000 and sold the team to Jeff Kunion. The 1996 Nighthawks won the NEL first half championship and played the Albany-Colonie Diamond Dogs for the league title, losing three games to one. The final game of the championship series proved to be the last Nighthawks' game ever, as Kunion, unsatisfied with the pace of stadium renovations, folded the team.
After sitting empty in 1997, the stadium got a new team for 1998: the Atlantic League's Newburgh Black Diamonds . However, poor attendance and the league's displeasure with Delano-Hitch's condition sealed Newburgh's fate, despite $150,000 worth of renovations. Minutes before Newburgh's home opener, league president Bud Harrelson announced the Black Diamonds would return in 1999, but only if the team built a new stadium. Instead, the franchise was sent wandering for several years after a proposed stadium in Easton, Pennsylvania was left unfinished after the builders went bankrupt; the team existed as the Road Warriors through 2004, then again in 2006–07.
Recently, Delano-Hitch has been used for amateur baseball, including high school (Newburgh Free Academy), college (Mount Saint Mary College), collegiate league (New York Generals) and American Legion ball. The financial downturn, however, has made it difficult for these teams to afford the rent on the stadium; since 2009, the ballpark has mostly sat empty, except for non-athletic gatherings. On August 7, 2010, Marcus Gill Ministries held a crusade, "Unity Fest with Minister Marcus Gill". About 150 people attended the crusade, held to encourage the community to pray for peace and to end crime in Newburgh. [2] [3]
In 2011, the Newburgh Nuclears American Legion team returned to Delano-Hitch for a series of home games and tournaments, after raising $13,000 for the use of the facility. [1]
In 2015, Delano-Hitch was briefly the home of the Newburgh Newts of the North Country Baseball League. One of the new league's founding franchises, the Newts' first home game was played May 20 against the Watertown Bucks, kicking off a planned 66-game schedule that was to run through early August. [4] After a series of tiny crowds of around twenty customers per game, the Newts were evicted from Delano-Hitch after three weeks, when their rent check bounced. [5] The franchise continued to operate as a road team (apparently renamed the New York Newts, according to the league website), one of two in the four-team circuit. Despite a slow start and being forced to play all of their contests on the road, the Newts finished 22–17, good enough for a first-place tie with the league's other road team, the Road City Explorers.
In early August, the Newts won the NCBL championship, sweeping Watertown in a two-game series. The Newts apparently folded after that, as they were not invited to join the four-team Empire Professional Baseball League in 2016.
Skylands Stadium is a professional minor-league baseball stadium located in the Augusta section of Frankford Township in Sussex County, New Jersey. It is located off of US 206, near its intersection with Route 15, on a plot of land adjacent to the Sussex County Fairgrounds where the Sussex County Farm and Horse Show and the New Jersey State Fair are held concurrently every August, and is home to the Sussex County Miners of the independent Frontier League.
The New Hampshire Fisher Cats are a Minor League Baseball team based in Manchester, New Hampshire. The team, which plays in the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays major league club.
Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium was a baseball stadium in Omaha, Nebraska, the former home to the annual NCAA Division I College World Series and the minor league Omaha Royals, now known as the Omaha Storm Chasers. Rosenblatt Stadium was the largest minor league baseball stadium in the United States until its demolition.
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 leagues agreed to merge. The league was superseded by the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, which its members joined for the 2005 season.
The Empire Football League (EFL) is a semi-professional American football league with franchises based primarily in New York State. The league was established in 1969. Many franchises have come and gone including in locations such as Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Connecticut as well as Quebec, Montreal, and Ontario in Canada. In 2018 the league included six teams: the Glens Falls Greenjackets, Hudson Valley Mountaineers, Plattsburgh North Stars, Seaway Valley Venom, Tri City Spartans, and Utica Yard Dogs.
The Vermont Lake Monsters are a collegiate summer baseball team located in Burlington, Vermont. From 1994 to 2020, they were members of Minor League Baseball's New York–Penn League (NYPL). They play their home games at Centennial Field, one of the oldest minor league stadiums, on the campus of the University of Vermont.
The Road Warriors are a professional baseball team owned by the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. The traveling team has operated intermittently throughout the league's history, usually being activated in years when the league otherwise has an odd number of teams.
The Lehigh Valley Multi-Purpose Sport Complex was a partially built, 6,400-seat stadium that was slated to be built in Williams Township, Pennsylvania, near Easton. The stadium was never completed, and the partially constructed building was demolished in 2005.
The Newburgh Hummingbirds were a North Atlantic League baseball team based in Newburgh, New York, United States that played for part of the 1946 season.
Warren H. Doane Diamond at Memorial Field is a stadium located in Concord, New Hampshire. The field is named after former Concord High School and amateur baseball coach, Warren Doane. It has a capacity of about 2,000 fans, and as of 2018 is the home of the New Hampshire Wild minor league baseball team.
The Newburgh Night Hawks were a minor league baseball team based in Newburgh, New York. The team played in the Northeast League, a professional independent baseball league, and as such none of its teams had an affiliation with Major League Baseball. The team existed from 1995 to 1996 and played its home games at Delano-Hitch Stadium in Newburgh.
The Mystic Schooners are a collegiate summer baseball team that operates in the Mystic, Connecticut region. The franchise is one of the two oldest franchises in the New England Collegiate Baseball League.
The 2011 UFL season was the third season of the United Football League (UFL). The season, which was affected by franchise shifts and schedule delays due in part to the UFL's lingering financial issues, began on September 15, 2011 and would have run through October 28, with a championship game set for the following weekend. The regular season was abandoned after the games of October 15, and the Championship Game moved up to October 21, when the Virginia Destroyers claimed their first UFL title by defeating the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Locomotives 17-3 at Virginia Beach Sportsplex.
The Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League (PGCBL) is a 16-team collegiate summer baseball league founded in 2010. As of 2022, all teams are within New York (state). All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. Players are not paid so as to maintain their college eligibility. Each team plays an eight-week, 48 game schedule from June to August with playoffs in early August.
The Omaha Mammoths were a professional football team based in Omaha, Nebraska. They were a charter member of the Fall Experimental Football League, which was trying to become the developmental league for the National Football League. They played their home games at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, home of the College World Series and the former home of the United Football League's Omaha Nighthawks. The Mammoths were the first pro outdoor football franchise to play in Omaha since the Nighthawks.
The North Country Baseball League (NCBL) was an independent, professional baseball league located in the Northeastern region of the United States in 2015. Operating in cities not served by Major League Baseball or their minor-league affiliates, the NCBL had four franchise teams spread throughout the states of New York and Maine.
The Aguada Explorers are an independent professional baseball team playing in the American Empire Professional Baseball League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball.
The Empire Professional Baseball League (EPBL) is an independent baseball league that began play in 2016. The Empire League plays a 40-game regular season followed by a five-game post season. The five-team league consists exclusively of teams from Upstate New York. League offices are in Tampa, Florida.
The New York Bucks are an independent American professional baseball team based in Canton, New York. They are a member of the Empire Professional Baseball League. Beginning in the 2018 season, the Bucks will play their home games at the Roos House Athletic Center at SUNY Canton.
The Newburgh Taylor–mades was a primary name of the minor league baseball teams based in Newburgh, New York. Between 1886 and 1914, Newburgh teams played under numerous nicknames as members of the Hudson River League, the 1913 New York-New Jersey League and 1914 Atlantic League. Newburgh hosted minor league home games at the West End Park and Driving Park.