Falcon Park

Falcon Park is a stadium in Auburn, New York. The stadium is primarily used for baseball and is the home field of the Auburn Doubledays minor league baseball team. The Auburn Maroons high school baseball team also plays its home games at the stadium.

This article is about the minor league baseball stadium in Auburn, New York. For the Corinth, Texas baseball venue, see Falcon Field (Corinth, Texas). For the Air Force Academy baseball venue, see Falcon Baseball Field.
Falcon Park
Location130 North Division Street
Auburn, New York 13021
Coordinates42.9416°N 76.585232°W / 42.9416; -76.585232
OwnerCity of Auburn
OperatorAuburn Community Baseball
Capacity2,800
Field sizeLeft Field: 330 feet
Center Field: 400 feet
Right Field: 330 feet
SurfaceGrass
Construction
Broke groundJanuary 1995
OpenedJune 22, 1995
Construction cost$3,145,000
($5.28 million in 2019 dollars[1])
ArchitectHighland Associates[2]
General contractorDeAngelo Construction Corp.[3]
Tenants
Auburn Doubledays
(NYPL) 1995–2020

The current, rebuilt facility opened in 1995 and holds 2,800 people. As of 2004, the venue's full name is Leo Pinckney Field at Falcon Park.

Background
Falcon Park (2012)

Falcon Park was originally built in 1927 on the same site which currently houses the 1995 reconstructed facility. The stadium is called Falcon Park because it was built by a fraternal organization in Auburn called the Polish Falcons. The Polish Falcons owned the stadium until 1959, when the local minor league franchise purchased it. The City of Auburn purchased both the stadium and the franchise in 1981 by assuming the former team's unpaid debts.

Falcon Park was a typical old wooden grandstand-type facility from 1927 until 1995. The original park's demolition began seconds after the final out of the final game of the 1994 season, with a bulldozer crashing into the stadium by smashing through the center field fence. The scene was shown nationally on ESPN.

Permanent lights were first erected at Falcon Park in 1940, although some temporary construction lights were put in place in order to accommodate some night baseball in 1938. Before the stability of the present Auburn Doubledays franchise, professional minor league baseball was somewhat of a "come and go" proposition in Auburn. When the city had no team in 1957, the stadium was used as an auto racing speedway for children. The kids raced go-kart-type vehicles called microds on a one-tenth mile oval built on the ball diamond's infield. The races drew large crowds and the enterprise was featured in an article in Life Magazine. When the city had no team in 1981, the stadium was used for rock and roll concerts.

A few games were staged here in May and June 1969 by the Syracuse Chiefs of the International League while their home field MacArthur Stadium was being repaired after a fire.

Teams

All of Auburn Community Baseball's entries in the New York-Penn League have played their home games at Falcon Park. Auburn's NY-P League team has operated under the following names:[4]

After the cancelled 2020 minor league season, Major League Baseball took direct control of Minor League Baseball and discontinued short-season play. The Doubledays were not among the four teams invited to remain as full-season affiliates of the Washington Nationals, with whom they had been affiliated since 2011.[5] The city and the team's ownership group are exploring options such as independent baseball or collegiate summer baseball for 2021.[6]

Notable players

Notable Major League Baseball players who played for Auburn in Falcon Park include:

Leo Pinckney Field

At the end of the 2004 NY-P season, the playing field at Falcon Park was named Leo Pinckney Field in honor of Auburn resident Leo Pinckney, who was instrumental in securing Auburn's New York-Penn league franchise in 1958. Pinckney was a former president of Auburn Community Baseball and a former president of the New York–Penn League, whose Pinckney Division is also named in Pinckney's honor.[7]

As a result, the full name of the facility is now Leo Pinckney Field at Falcon Park, although it is still mostly known by its original, shorter name.

References
  1. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  2. Valenti, Evan (September 7, 2012). "Pre-Game Meal – Playoffs Edition: Game 1-9/7/12". Minor League Baseball. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  3. "Falcon Park Stadium in Auburn, NY". DeAngelo Construction Corp. Archived from the original on March 9, 2005. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  4. "Auburn, NY". Baseball-Reference. Retrieved August 3, 2011.
  5. Kerr, Byron (December 9, 2020). "Nats announce 2021 minor league affiliate invitations". MASN Sports. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  6. Ritzel, Justin (December 10, 2020). "MLB extends invites to minor league affiliates; Auburn Doubledays not included". Auburn Pub. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  7. Bulkot, Mary (September 3, 2004). "Auburn Honors 'King of Baseball'". The Citizen (Auburn). Retrieved June 2, 2014.
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