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Burlington was among the casualties of MLB’s conquest of MiLB, which saw 42 affiliates dropped, most from the short-season Appalachian, New York-Penn, and the Pioneer League.
As I’ve written on this site many times, this is a shame because those leagues—particularly the Advanced Rookie level (Appy, Pioneer)—were a throwback to a simpler time, when the focus was on the game and the players. (Hold on, there’s some kids on my front lawn).
Cheap tickets, (relatively) cheap eats, and (as seen prior) some souvenirs show that this can still work.
It’s not hard to see why MLB wanted to distance itself from aging facilities [insert Pfitzner reference here]…
…like Burlington Athletic Stadium, built in 1960 but looks older.
Unfortunately, with the transition of the Appy from professional to collegiate wood-bat, the play on the field can sometimes look worse than the facility. This particular game “featured” 16 walks, 18 runs, and six errors over three hours and 41 minutes. It did not go into extras.