Watt Powell Park was a stadium, primarily used for baseball, in the Kanawha City neighborhood of Charleston, West Virginia. It was built in 1948, and was home to several Charleston minor-league franchises: the Charleston Senators of the Class A Central League (1949-1951) and the AAA American Association (1952-1960), the Charleston Marlins of the AAA International League (1961), the Charleston Indians of the AA Eastern League (1962-1964), the Charleston Charlies of the AAA International League (1971-1983) and Charleston Wheelers, later the Charleston Alley Cats of the Class A South Atlantic League (1987-2004).
A stadium 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 or sit and view the event.
Baseball is a bat-and-ball game played between two opposing teams who take turns batting and fielding. The game proceeds when a player on the fielding team, called the pitcher, throws a ball which a player on the batting team tries to hit with a bat. The objectives of the offensive team are to hit the ball into the field of play, and to run the bases—having its runners advance counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are called "runs". The objective of the defensive team is to prevent batters from becoming runners, and to prevent runners' advance around the bases. A run is scored when a runner legally advances around the bases in order and touches home plate. The team that scores the most runs by the end of the game is the winner.
Charleston is the most populous city in, and the capital of, the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha rivers, the population during the 2017 Census Estimate was 47,929. The Charleston metropolitan area as a whole had 214,406 residents. Charleston is the center of government, commerce, and industry for Kanawha County, of which it is the county seat.
Watt Powell Park held 4,474 people, and was known for the scenic view of nearby hillsides. Watt Powell also was known for the CSX railroad line hard by the south wall of the stadium; some fans were known to watch games from there rather than pay to enter the stadium. Watt Powell Park was bounded by MacCorkle Avenue on the front (North) side, 35th Street on the east, and South Park Road on the west. On the south side of the park, a ridge of hills formed a natural boundary.
CSX Transportation is a Class I railroad operating in the eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles (34,000 km) of track. The company operates as a subsidiary of CSX Corporation, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.
The stadium earned a reputation as a pitchers' park due to the lack of power hitting over its lifespan. Part of this can be attributed to its dimensions; the field was 340 feet from home plate to the wall in left field, 330 feet in right, and a daunting 420 feet in deep center field. The outfield walls were also 12 feet high the whole distance around, higher than walls seen elsewhere in baseball. The center field wall included a 90-degree, inward facing angle, reminiscent of the old Griffith Stadium in Washington, DC.
Griffith Stadium was a sports stadium that stood in Washington, D.C., from 1911 to 1965, between Georgia Avenue and 5th Street, and between W Street and Florida Avenue NW.
Watt Powell Park closed in 2005 after the opening of Appalachian Power Park in Charleston's East End, near downtown. The Alley Cats moved to the new stadium and renamed themselves the West Virginia Power. The stadium was sold to the University of Charleston which then sold two thirds to the region's largest hospital, Charleston Area Medical Center, whose largest facility is a few blocks away. Demolition of the stadium began in late 2005 and in 2015 a new CAMC cancer clinic opened on the site.
Appalachian Power Park is the current home field for the West Virginia Power, a minor league baseball team in the South Atlantic League. The Power are a Class-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. It also has been used by the baseball programs of West Virginia University, Marshall University, and the University of Charleston. The stadium, which opened in April 2005, is located in the East End of Charleston, West Virginia. It seats 4,500 fans and cost $25 million to build. The dimensions of the field are as follows: left field - 330 feet, center field - 400 feet, right field - 320 feet.
The West Virginia Power is a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the Class A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. They are located in Charleston, West Virginia, and play their home games at Appalachian Power Park which opened in 2005 and seats 4,500 fans.
The University of Charleston (UC), formerly Morris Harvey College, is a private accredited university based in Charleston, West Virginia, United States. The university also has locations in Beckley, West Virginia, and Martinsburg, West Virginia, known as UC-Beckley and UC-Martinsburg, respectively.
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