When the 2019 baseball season started it marked the 93rd season of baseball at historic Duncan Park, a place that only a decade ago had its near future in serious doubt.
Duncan Park was built in 1926 on the southside of Spartanburg and has been home to teams with such names as the Spartans, Suns, Phillies, Rifles, Crickets, and Terriers over those ninety-three years. It has also seen players with names like Gehrig, DiMaggio, Murphy, Bowa, and Glavine take the field at the old ballpark. In 2007 though the ballpark was in trouble as its only tennant was it’s longest running tennant, the Spartanburg Post 28 American Legion baseball team, and with the ballpark in need of lots of repairs there were thoughts of how long the legion team may be there as well. The ballpark got new life in 2008 though as the city granted money to fix the outfield wall and entered into agreement with Spartanburg District 7 for it to be home of the Spartanburg High School baseball team. In the years since District 7 has invested money into the stadium that has included fixing foundation and drainage issues all the way up to a new scoreboard and locker rooms. Just this past Monday I got my first chance to see the old stadium in a number of years, a place I have many memories of watching minor league baseball as a kid. The first thing I noticed was that the entrance had changed from above the stands to field level, due to still on going renovations, but you enter beside a mural welcoming you to “Historic Duncan Park.” As I walked into the entrance it was reminded of why people hold a special place in their heart for Duncan Park as the old grandstands welcomes you like an old friend on a sunny April afternoon. When you walk into the grandstands there are newer seats at box seats that go two rows deep from dugout to dugout and put you close enough to question any ball or strike call by the umpire. On Monday though I was more interested in the other seats at the old ballpark, the ones I had wondered through all the renovations if they would still be there, and as I walked down the concourse there those were those very seats. The seats were old fold down stadium chairs that were installed after the demolition of Connie Mack stadium in Philadelphia, a ballpark that had been around since 1909 itself. As I sat there covering the high school game between Boiling Springs and Spartanburg my mind drifted to the games that I had watched there and the ones that had been played there long before I was born. I wasn’t the only person on that sunny April day reminising as I spoke with quite a few people who talked about memories of Duncan Park and how they’re glad to see it looking like its old self again. “Duncan Park is probably my favorite place to go,” said Boiling Springs head baseball coach Jeff Lipscomb. “I’ve came here for the last thirty years as either a player or coach and there’s just so much history here. There will never be another place like Duncan Park.” In 2016 Duncan Park was placed on the US National Historic Register and with the recent renovations the stadium seems to have a new energy about it again. When I filed out the gate on Monday I left with a smile because it seems our ninety-three year old friend is doing quite well. |
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