Lynchburg City Stadium

The exterior of City Stadium, Aug-2007.

A good look at the seating bowl from down the right-field line.

The view of the field from behind the plate, and a tall netting.

Chronological Tour: Stop 94

• Location: Stadium Road at Wythe Road, Lynchburg, Va. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 1940 (renovated 2003)
• Home team: Lynchburg Senators, Virginia League (1940-42); Lynchburg Cardinals, Piedmont League (1943-55); Lynchburg White Sox, South Atlantic/Southern League (1962-65); Lynchburg White Sox (1966-69), Twins (1970-74), Rangers (1975), Mets (1976-87), Red Sox (1988-94), Hillcats (1995-present), Carolina League
• Capacity: 4,281

Rating: 2 baseballs

It’s in a nice enough spot, perched atop one of the city’s seven hills, but it faces the wrong way to have an outstanding view. Many of the seats were stuck behind one of the uglier screens in the minors. And the place was distinctly uncomfortable. As a result, it scored my lowest rating among all the parks I’ve seen in the Carolina League.

The good news is that a substantial renovation of City Stadium took place during the 2003 season. In 2004, the field, which bore a corporate sponsorship for several years prior to the renovation, was named for Calvin Falwell, who purchased the team in 1966 and who continues to own the Hillcats. Calvin was a brother of the evangelist Jerry Falwell, who founded Liberty University, also in Lynchburg.

The renovated stadium is quite a bit better than the old facility. All that remains of the original stadium structure is the concrete padding for the seating bowl, and even some of that has been replaced. New sky boxes rest atop the roof that covers the main seating bowl, and the concession areas are all new as well.

However, the main bowl is still entirely behind a net (although the current net isn't as thick or view-obscuring as the old one), and I was taken aback by the failure of the public address announcer to call the fans’ attention to several of the visiting team’s pitching changes on the night I attended.