Former names | Skylands Park |
---|---|
Location | 94 Championship Place Augusta, NJ 07822 |
Coordinates | 41°7′33.3″N74°42′36.44″W / 41.125917°N 74.7101222°W |
Owner | Al Dorso |
Operator | Skylands Stadium LLC. |
Capacity | 5,200 (1994–2021) 5,500 (2021–present) |
Record attendance | 5,477 (July 4, 2019) |
Field size | Left Field: 330 ft Center Field: 384 ft Right Field: 330 ft |
Surface | Natural Grass |
Construction | |
Built | 1994 |
Opened | 1994 |
Tenants | |
Sussex County Miners (FL) (2015–present) Sussex Skyhawks (CAAPB) (2006–2010) Newark Bears (ALPB) (1999) New Jersey Cardinals (NYPL) (1994–2005) Sussex County Community College Skylanders NJIT Highlanders (NCAA Division 1) (2019–present) |
Skylands Stadium (known from its opening until 2014 as Skylands Park) is a 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.
Skylands Stadium opened in 1994 and was built for the New Jersey Cardinals, the New York–Penn League affiliate for the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals called the park home until 2005, after which the team was sold and moved. The Cardinals were replaced by the Sussex Skyhawks, an independent minor league team that began play in 2006 and folded after the 2010 season. Skylands Stadium also served as the home field for several other sports organizations.
In October 2013, Skylands Stadium was purchased by Al Dorso, a businessman who owns State Fair Superstore in Belleville, New Jersey, operates the annual State Fair Meadowlands in the parking lots surrounding MetLife Stadium, and is the owner of the Sussex County Miners. [1]
In October 2021, the field at Skylands Stadium was renamed Columbus Field and a monument to Christopher Columbus, that was previously located in Newark, New Jersey, was placed in the front of the stadium. The statue and field naming were unveiled as part of a Columbus Day celebration with food, music, giveaways, and appearances by local politicians, Italian American organizations, and the Knights of Columbus. [2]
Ground was broken in the fall of 1993 for a new minor league ballpark. The Hamilton Redbirds, the Cardinals' New York–Penn League affiliate, were in a transition to move out of their home in Hamilton, Ontario, to Augusta, New Jersey, and had temporarily spent the 1993 season in Glens Falls, New York, as the Glens Falls Redbirds. As part of the move, the team changed its name to the Cardinals. The team's new home stadium would be privately owned and financed, a rarity in professional sports circles.
The park is designed to look a little bit like a farm complex from the outside. Augusta has long been the home of dairy farms, and the Cardinals wanted to make their stadium blend in.
The winter of 1993–94 brought the worst weather in several years to North Jersey, causing construction cost overruns. The owners of Skylands Stadium were forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but the new ballpark managed to open on time that June and the Cardinals moved in. [3] The stadium's luxury boxes and other amenities were not completed until the following year.
The Cardinals called Skylands Stadium home from 1994 to 2005, winning a NYPL title in their first season. After the 2005 season the team was sold to a new ownership group based in University Park, Pennsylvania, home of Penn State University, and were relocated there to become known as the State College Spikes; the team remained there until the New York-Penn League was shut down in 2020.
On January 10, 2006, it was announced that Skylands Stadium would be the home to the newly named professional baseball team called the Sussex Skyhawks of the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball. On May 29, 2006, the Skyhawks played their first regular season game at Skylands Stadium, dropping an 18–11 decision to the North Shore Spirit. The Skyhawks won a Can-Am League championship in 2008, the ballpark's second title. In early January 2011, it was announced that the Sussex Skyhawks would be disbanding. [4]
The Sussex County Community College (SCCC) baseball team, known as the Skylanders, plays its home games at Skylands Stadium. The Skylanders took part in the first-ever event at the ballpark, a doubleheader played on April 17, 1994. The Skyland Cardinals have also begun to play their home games in 2020 with the emergence of the All-American Baseball Challenge. [5]
In 1998, Skylands Stadium was designated the home field for the New Jersey Diamonds of the Ladies Professional Baseball League, a league for women that began play the previous year. However, the Diamonds played only eight home games before the league folded. [6]
In the summer of 1999, Skylands Stadium hosted several home games for the Newark Bears, a minor league team affiliated with the Atlantic League, as they awaited the completion of Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium in Newark. [7]
Skylands Stadium also hosted the Sussex County Colonels of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League, a collegiate summer baseball league, from 1995 to 1997. Skylands Stadium was also home to the Semi-Pro Football team the Sussex Stags. The Stags played at the stadium in 2010 when they were called the Jersey Stags. In 2015, the Stags re-branded as the Sussex Stags and played the 2015 season at Skylands Stadium while being part of the Empire Football League, the oldest running league in the Country. The Sussex Stags now call Newton High School the home stadium and in 2019 became the New Jersey Stags.
No professional baseball team played at Skylands Stadium from 2011 through 2014. The owners, Millennium Sports Management, put the stadium up for sale for $1.99 million, but no buyer was found at that price. [8] In March 2013, investor Mark Roscioli of 17 Mile LLC in Ardmore, Pennsylvania acquired the stadium for $950,000. [9] Negotiations were ongoing to determine how to bring baseball back to the site with either a new or existing pro league. Roscioli did not have prior experience running a ballpark. [10] There was interest in a new ACBL franchise or a team in a revived version of the Northern League. In October 2014, Roscioli sold the park to a group of investors led by Al Dorso for $850,000. [1]
The Can-Am League granted an expansion franchise to the new ballpark owners. The new Sussex County Miners played their first home game on Memorial Day, May 25, 2015. [11] The Miners defeated their geographical rivals, the New Jersey Jackals 4–1 in front of a crowd of 3,819 people for their first victory. [12] In 2017, the Miners qualified for the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, playing their first playoff game at the stadium on September 7, 2017. However, the Miners got swept in the first round 3–0 by the eventual champions, the Québec Capitales.
The Miners qualified for the playoffs again the following year, this time placing first in the league and winning the division for the first time in franchise history. In the opening round, they defeated the Trois-Rivières Aigles 3–2.
In the championship round, the Miners beat the defending Champion Québec Capitales 3 games to 1 in a best-of-five series. Skylands Stadium served as the location for games 3 and 4, each resulting in a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Miners won Game 3 on a single by first baseman Daniel Mateo. Game 4 was filled with even more drama. With the Miners down two runs with two on and two out with a sold out crowd, the Miners third baseman Martin Figueroa stepped to the plate to hit a dramatic first-pitch, three-run home run, ending the game with a score of 6-5 and giving the Miners their first championship in franchise history.
On Sunday, June 16, 2019, the Sussex County Miners defeated the Shikoku Island Independents by a score of 5–2, exactly 25 years to the date of the first professional game played at Skylands Park which was between the New Jersey Cardinals and Hudson Valley Renegades.
After the 2019 season, the Can-Am League ceased operations, with the Miners and other teams slated to join the Frontier League. [13] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Frontier League cancelled its 2020 season. The Miners instead fielded a team in the hastily-assembled All-American Baseball Challenge, hosting games at Skylands Stadium despite a limit of 500 fans due to pandemic restrictions. [14] The Miners officially began play in the Frontier League in May 2021. [15]
The Newark Bears were an American independent league professional baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They were a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and, later, the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball. The Bears played their home games at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium. The team folded after the 2013 season.
The Frontier League is a professional baseball league in North America composed of 18 teams – 15 in the United States and 3 in Canada. The FL is one of the four independent baseball leagues that is considered to be an MLB Partner League, and the level of play is comparable to the High-A level. The league is headquartered in Sauget, Illinois.
The Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, commonly known as the Can-Am League, was an independent baseball league with teams in the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada, founded in 2005 as a reorganization of the Northeast League.
The New Jersey Cardinals were a Short-Season A minor league baseball team affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals. They were a member of the New York–Penn League and played at Skylands Park in Augusta, New Jersey from 1994–2005.
Augusta is an unincorporated community located within Frankford Township, in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population for the ZIP Code Tabulation Area 07822 was 887.
Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium, originally simply Riverfront Stadium, was a 6,200-seat baseball park in Newark, New Jersey built in 1999. It was the home field of the Newark Bears, who played in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, an independent minor baseball league. The Bears played in the stadium from 1999 until 2013 when they announced a move to the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball, but the team was folded shortly thereafter.
The New Jersey Jackals are a professional baseball team based in Paterson, New Jersey. The Jackals compete in the Frontier League (FL) as a member of the East Division in the Atlantic Conference. The team was founded in 1998 by Floyd Hall and is owned by Al Dorso, a businessman who also owns the Sussex County Miners, Skylands Stadium, and State Fair Superstore. The Jackals play their home games at Hinchliffe Stadium.
The State College Spikes are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. They are located in State College, Pennsylvania, and play their home games at Medlar Field on the campus of Pennsylvania State University.
The Sussex Skyhawks were a professional baseball team that played at Skylands Park in Augusta, New Jersey. The team was part of the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, an independent minor baseball league also referred to as the Can-Am League, from their inaugural season in 2006 until 2010. The team was owned by a group led by Floyd Hall, who also owns the New Jersey Jackals. The team was formed in part due to their home park's previous tenant, the New Jersey Cardinals, relocating to University Park, Pennsylvania following the 2005 New York–Penn League season to become the State College Spikes.
Silver Stadium was a baseball stadium located at 500 Norton Street in Rochester, New York. It was the home stadium for the Rochester Red Wings of the International League from 1929 to 1996, and for the New York Black Yankees of the Negro National League for their final season in 1948. The ballpark also briefly hosted professional football as it was the home field for the Rochester Braves in 1936 and the Rochester Tigers in 1936 and 1937.
Floyd Hall is an American business executive and sports team owner.
Hinchliffe Stadium is a 7,800-seat stadium located in Paterson, New Jersey. The stadium is located atop the Great Falls of the Passaic River, and is part of the surrounding National Historical Park. The stadium, built in 1932, was closed in 1996 after years of neglect but reopened in 2023.
The Prospect League is a collegiate summer baseball league comprising teams of college players from North America and beyond. All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. So as to maintain their college eligibility, players are not paid. Beginning in 2012, the league added four games to the season, making a total of 60 games per team.
The New York Boulders are a professional baseball team based in Pomona. The Boulders compete in the Frontier League (FL) as a member of the East Division in the Atlantic Conference. The team plays its home games at Clover Stadium, a 9,300-seat stadium built 40 miles north of New York City. They are one of three Frontier League franchises located in the New York metropolitan area; the others being the New Jersey Jackals and Sussex County Miners. Beginning play in the 2011 season as the Rockland Boulders, the rest of the teams in the Can-Am League were absorbed into the Frontier League when the two leagues merged following the 2019 season.
The Glens Falls Redbirds were a minor league baseball team that played in the New York–Penn League for the 1993 season only and played their home games at East Field located in Glens Falls, New York. The Redbirds were affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Ottawa Champions, officially the Ottawa Champions Baseball Club were a professional baseball team based in Ottawa. They competed in the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball from 2015 to 2019. The Champions have played their home games at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton Park, also known as RCGT Park. The Champions mascot was Champ.
The Sussex County Miners are a professional baseball team based in Augusta, New Jersey. They compete in the Frontier League (FL) as a member of the East Division in the Atlantic Conference, and have played their home games at Skylands Stadium, originally known as Skylands Park, since 2015. The Miners are not currently affiliated to any Major League Baseball teams, but are official MLB Partners since 2020. They were originally members of the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball until 2020. They joined the Frontier League for the 2020 season when it absorbed the Can-Am League.
The West Frankfort Cardinals were an American minor league baseball team based in West Frankfort, Illinois. The West Frankfort Cardinals played as members of the Illinois State League in 1947 to 1948 and the Mississippi–Ohio Valley League in 1949 and 1950, qualifying for the league playoffs twice. The two leagues were the direct predecessors to the Midwest League. West Frankfort was a minor affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals for their duration, while hosting home games at Memorial Stadium.
The Belleville Stags were a minor league baseball team based in Belleville, Illinois. In 1947 and 1948, the Stags played as members of the Class D level Illinois State League and remained a franchise when the league changed names to the Mississippi–Ohio Valley League in 1949, which later evolved to become today's Midwest League. Winners of the 1947 league championship, the Stags were named and supported by their namesake, Stag Beer. The Stags were a minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Browns in 1947 and 1948 and New York Yankees in 1949. Belleville hosted home minor league games at the Belleville Athletic Field, also called "Stag Park" in the era.
The All-American Baseball Challenge was a six-team recreational baseball league formed in July 2020 in the New York City metropolitan area. Local ownership quickly organized this pop-up league in response to the cancellation of the 2020 Frontier League season, which was to feature three of the teams involved, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.