Montpelier Recreation Field


The 1940-vintage seating bowl at Montpelier Recreation Field, Jul-2014.
A close-up of the seating bowl.
The view from the top of the wooden grandstand.
Quick Facts:
Recreation Field was built as a WPA project in 1940, and the summer-league Montpelier Senators moved up to the field from another site in town. The Senators, and later the Twin City Trojans (the second city being Barre), played in the Vermont Northern League, which was predominantly a college summer league but also featured some former professional players. The league paid even the college players something until the NCAA cracked down in 1948; this led to the end of the league after the 1950 season. As a result, the league is referred to by some as a college summer league and by others as a semi-pro league. The ambiguity leads me to list the park only on my amateur fields list rather than on my big list of pro ballparks.

By far, the most famous Twin City Trojan was Robin Roberts. The hurler honed his craft at Recreation Field in 1946-47; the Phillies signed him out of Michigan State in 1948, and he was up in the majors after just eleven games for Wilmington in the Class B Interstate League. Roberts continued to reminisce fondly about his time in Montpelier until his death in 2010.

In 2003, Recreation Field became the home to a franchise in a legitimate college summer league, as the Vermont Mountaineers opened play in the New England Collegiate Baseball League. NECBL talent has been known to rival that of the nearby Cape Cod League in the seasons since it started play.

Game Date League Level Result
50 Sat 5-Jul-2014 NECBL College Summer Laconia 11, VERMONT 0
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This page updated 6-Jul-2014