American Legion Field

American Legion Field

Home of Florence Post 1 Baseball and former home of the Florence RedWolves

Opened: 1968

Seating Capacity: 3,500 (including standing room and picnic areas)

Location: Stadium Road two blocks south of US Highway 76 east of Florence, Florence County, South Carolina

Games seen in Database Era: 78 between June 27, 2007 and July 3, 2012

Latitude: 34.194438 N

Longitude: 79.713396 W

Distance from my house point-to-point (as the crow flies): 42.37 miles

Driving time from my house: 1 hour and 5 minutes (65 minutes)

Florence's American Legion Field (also referred to as American Legion Stadium) dates back to 1968, and as the name says has traditionally hosted American Legion Baseball. Unlike Sumter's powerful teams, Florence up until last year when they made the American Legion World Series has had its teams get stuck in the playoffs after typically successful regular season play. But while this stadium has seen plenty of quality Legion play and bares the Legion name, it is not best known for hosting Legion ball. That is not even what it is best known for locally, as is the case with Riley Park in Sumter. Like Riley Park, Florence hosted a South Atlantic League team in the 1980s that did not stay very long. From 1981 to 1986, American Legion Field was home to the Blue Jays' Class A affiliate before they packed up and headed to the Coastal Carolina campus in 1987 before ultimately settling Hagerstown, Maryland in 1993 (Hagerstown had just lost their Class AA team to Bowie). Florence also hosted one year of independent league ball in a fly-by-night league back in 1995. 

But Florence was able to quickly get a team in the new upstart collegiate summer league, the Coastal Plain League back in 1998. This new Florence team, the RedWolves, had spent a year in Raleigh at NC State (hence the name RedWolves) before realizing they would have better fortunes in a smaller market with less competition. Even with future Red Sox star Kevin Youkilis playing in Florence in 1999, the RedWolves had a hard time getting off the ground in Florence. Fortunately local attorney Kevin Barth was able to purchase the team and created greater community investment in the team, saving the RedWolves from the fate its short-lived professional predecessors had. The team took off as the area's most popular team in the mid-2000s, hosting the CPL All-Star game and the CPL Pettit Cup Playoffs. The RedWolves eventually became one of the league' most successful franchises.

But like their in-state league counterparts in Columbia, American Legion Field would let the team down in creating long-term stability. I have talked previously about modern facilities at the University of South Carolina, such as Carolina Stadium. American Legion Field is not even as modern as Sumter's Riley Park, yet was able to host amateur baseball at a much higher level. Florence's CPL opponents frequently complained about field conditions, and most importantly the lack of a locker room for visitors. The RedWolves' opponents had to dress on the bus before heading into American Legion Field, and often had to wait until they got to their hotel or back home to shower. The Coastal Plain League ordered Florence to rectify this problem. But getting local government leaders to make improvements to municipal facilities is never easy. With the team nearly endangered, Barth was contacted by Francis Marion three miles to the east (American Legion Field is already three miles itself east of downtown Florence) who offered their new park to save the RedWolves. And midway through the 2012 season, the RedWolves packed their bags and left American Legion Field, quite possibly for good. And for 2013, local junior college Florence-Darlington Tech moved to Francis Marion's old park as city leaders tried to ponder American Legion Field's future. I would expect that for now the local Legion team will use the stadium that bares its name. It is quite possible that in five years, American Legion Field will be renovated and home to the RedWolves again. Or it is possible that in the same time frame that this stadium will be no more.

Seating Capacity: B-

Seating capacity wise, American Legion Field was satisfactory towards CPL standards. Half of the Coastal Plain League seats less than American Legion Field, and only Columbia's Capital City Stadium seats far more within the league. Aside from the Fourth of July weekend as part of Florence's "Spirt of Florence" celebration, Florence was no more likely to sell out than Columbia. And that is even with the RedWolves drawing in crowds better than the Blowfish often times. When it comes to seating capacity, the RedWolves downgraded in their move to Francis Marion's Sparrow Stadium which has half the capacity of American Legion Field.

But with that said, American Legion Field is nowhere near as big as its listed capacity of 3,500. Saying that American Legion Field is that big is like saying that 2,000 seat Riley Park in Sumter seats 4,000 (which indeed is listed as such in many older professional stadium directories). The main grandstand behind home plate seats about 1,000, which is flanked by two smaller stands of about 500 each towards third and first base. An old set of green wooden bleachers down the right field line that appeared to be on its last legs were taken out prior to the 2012 season that also seated about 500. With those sections all in place, that means the true seating capacity is about 2,500 (and about 2,000 minus the removed old bleachers). So the park would have to hold between 1,000 and 1,500 in the picnic areas and other standing room. Seeing that many younger Florence fans spend most of the game running behind the main grandstand on the American Legion Field grounds without caring to watch the game, 3,500 might be possible. But the actual seating capacity makes it hard for Florence to get better events than what it has, similar to Riley Park in Sumter.

Quality of Seats: C+

Most of the stadium is bleachers, and for the most part not very good bleachers. Most of the bleachers in the home plate grandstand are metal bleachers that can be a bit uncomfortable in bad weather, as it can get too hot, cold, or wet. The rest of the bleachers are wooden bleachers without much room for spectators on a crowded night. They can also get a bit shaky, especially in the old green bleachers down the right field line that were finally removed before they could collapse. At least the home plate metal bleachers have backs, and the box seats are red plastic seats slightly more numerous than those at Riley Park.

But unlike at Riley Park, there is no solid roof. There is some roof, an oddly constructed canopy built over the first base seating areas in August 2007 in preparation to hosting CPL playoff games during a record heat wave in the afternoon. But this canopy can let some sunlight get through, as can blowing rain. And it is not over the home plate grandstand either, which has much better sightlines than the first base seating. The sightlines can be obstructed by an oddly constructed backstop consisting of both a chainlink fence and a net. The seats down the lines are not angled as well as at Riley Park either, which has a much more solid structure than American Legion Field. 

But that is not to say you can't see the game well from the stands at American Legion Field. Particularly behind home plate you are pretty much on top of the action, largely because American Legion Field has very little foul territory. Even some high school fields have more foul territory than this now-former CPL park.

Attractiveness/Uniqueness: C

The view looking out towards foul territory is a bit unspectacular, it is just a wide open grass parking lot surrounded by indescribable flat land. The main highlight in foul territory surrounding the park is the Florence Regional Airport  behind first base whenever planes come in and out (it is not a particularly busy airport though). Looking out towards the outfield is a little better, with a stand of trees on top of the center field fence and the local high school football stadium looming past the right field wall. Perhaps a bit of uniqueness is the odd layout of the stands itself around the field, which gives American Legion Field some degree of character. The beer garden in right field along with the picnic areas and playground with a full bounce house gives the stadium some degree of life to it when viewing it during the course of a game.

Concessions: A

You have all your standard ballpark favorites here: nachos, hot dogs, and burgers. The RedWolves even have their own specialty burger in the Wolf Burger! You do not see specialty food items too much at this level. You also have a variety of snacks and food items, and you can like at Colonial Life Arena mix up different meals for different visits. Among the best items are Domino's Pizza and Chick-Fil-A sandwiches. They also have a good variety of sweet products, from a flavored shave ice stand to one concessions stand that specializes in a variety of different candies. The selection food is almost as good as at USC's stadiums, but with more reasonable prices and a better selection of drinks. You can not expect any better from a team at this level and especially in a rundown facility. So the RedWolves and American Legion Field ace this category.

Parking: B

You can park as close as you want to here (at risk of getting hit by a foul ball), and unlike Columbia it is absolutely free! It might be as easy a park to pull into as any I have been to. Just drive in off US-76, and find a space in the grass. Unfortunately, it is grass rather than paved. And getting back onto US-76 can be difficult coming out of a game, especially with most fans turning left to go back towards Florence itself. So the parking situation is usually pretty good in Florence, but definitely not flawless either.

Lighting: B

This is the la st place you would expect television-level lighting. After all, the stadium is otherwise as un-modern as it gets and shabby in some places. After all, the CPL practically forced the RedWolves out of here. But American Legion Field is much better lit than Riley Park, slightly better than Capital City Stadium and about on par with Carolina Stadium. Carolina Stadium got a C+ in this category, and the expectations are lower for a CPL park than one in the SEC. You won't get quality pictures here at night, but you can get adequate ones and that is about as good as you can expect most places. Walking around the stadium after dark is much easier than at most comparable facilities. The lighting situation has been described by in the past by Florence-Darlington Tech as being "AAA quality". So it is not "Major League" quality, and thus not perfect. But it is still pretty good here considering the shape of the facility, as is the case with many things at American Legion Field.

Fans: B

At many minor league stadiums, fans have come without thinking about the game they are going to watch. This is also true in the Coastal Plain League, with many fans in Columbia coming to drink beer and many fans in Fayetteville coming to see some "EXCITING SWAMPDOGS BASEBALL!", which is really neither exciting or has much to do with baseball. But the fans in Florence value their RedWolves, and know that what they are seeing is good baseball for a community its size. Like in Sumter at Riley Park, a non-local might feel out of place here with the fans in Florence being a more blue-collar, Jeff Foxworthy type of crowd. But the locals know how to have fun, and while on-field promotions exist it never distracts from the game. One fan in particular who sits underneath the press box is particularly good at ripping on the visiting team and the umpires. As that fan said to an offended parent from Columbia, "It's all about fun here". The press box PA once irked an umpire by playing "You're right!" after a series of questionable calls. It is not quite as good as a college crowd though in being intense about the game, but that is in part because of the nature of the summer league. The kids running around can take something away when they dominate the crowd as they occasionally do when they come in groups. But at least they can get their energy out with the on-field Chicken Dance in the third inning that many players join in with as well.

Other stuff: F

If Carolina Stadium is the hallmark of being a modern stadium, American Legion Field is the antithesis of being a modern stadium. In addition to the issues of a small locker room that can't hold the visiting team as mentioned earlier (the main reason for the team's exit from the stadium), the field is not too sharp either. As touched on earlier, the playing dimensions are more suited for high school ball as is the field itself. 

Drainage is better than the RedWolves' league counterparts in Columbia, but that happens to be Capital City Stadium's fatal flaw. Drainage otherwise is not very good here, and American Legion Field lacks a professional crew to work on the field (like at most high schools and small colleges, the players have to work on the field themselves). The field has been voted on by visiting teams as the weakest in the CPL. While somebody has to be the weakest, it is part of the reason the RedWolves were also quick to get out. Much of the rest of the stadium is in poor shape, particularly the bathrooms which are bad even by old convenience store standards. The restrooms are badly undersized with tiny stalls with toilets that sometimes don't flush. The sink often is hard to use as well. And there is no air conditioning either, so the hot and humid air gets trapped inside. And as I mentioned about some of the wooden bleachers, they feel a bit unstable. Fortunately the green bleachers down the right field line, a disaster waiting to happen, were finally removed at the expense of the park's seating capacity.

The staff is not usually unfriendly like is occasionally the case at USC, but not particularly friendly like at Blowfish games at Capital City Stadium. And I did have one problem with my camera back in 2009. That was one isolated incident, but aside from a few suspicious ushers (particularly at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte) I really have not had a problem at other parks either. As far as the operation of a modern facility, the RedWolves do a few things right as I mentioned in the "fans" section. But the negatives definitely outweigh the positives in this category. Much of the park's problems are not under ownership's fault, and that is why the CPL was happy to see the RedWolves pack up and head three miles east.

Summary: I definitely have some problems with American Legion Field. It is not a fan-friendly park. But it is  even more player unfriendly, and that is why this is a former CPL park. And it's a real shame, since this stadium has a lot going for it otherwise. Hopefully in time the Legion team can make good use of it, as they come off a Southeast Regional title. Like Capital City Stadium, this is a quirky park that has some real positives but its negatives instead turn it into another endangered stadium. It is probably for the best that the RedWolves moved to FMU, even though Sparrow Stadium is not a perfect solution either. It is a smaller stadium with poor access for many Florence residents. American Legion Field is a classic pure baseball experience, one that might be going away. It may now be the second best baseball park in Florence. But for being the second best baseball park in a small city, it's not too bad.

Overall GPA: 2.5