GoMart Ballpark

GoMart Ballpark
Location	Charleston, WV United States
Building chronology
Opened	2005
Tenants
West Virginia Power (2005-2021) Charleston Dirty Birds (2021-present)
Capacity
4,474

GoMart Ballpark in Charleston, WV, was the home of Charleston affiliated baseball from 2005 through 2019, as Appalachian Power Park throughout the tenure. After that and the Coronavirus pandemic-canceled 2020 season, MLB's 2021 Minor League Reorganization eliminated the West Virginia Power of the South Atlantic League.

It has an industrial feel, what with the brick buildings beyond the outfield, the name of a utility on it for 18 years, and wrought-iron gates and railings within it. The long-time Pirates' farm club joined the Seattle Mariners in 2019, after the Bucs took the Greensboro Grasshoppers. After MLB cut the franchise, the operation joined the independent Atlantic League and rebranded as the Charleston Dirty Birds. During the 2022-2023 off-season, the Birds rebranded the ballpark by selling 10 years' worth of naming rights to the GoMart convenience store chain.

The postwar baseball boom revived Charleston's sporadic professional baseball history via the 1948 opening of Watt Powell Park, which hosted pro ball 27 of the next 36 seasons. A 1987 SAL expansion created the Charleston Wheelers, who became the AlleyCats in 1995. "The App" brought a new nickname and the Power Outlet team store. From Watt Powell, only Wheeler Bob, the Toastman, and Rowdy Alley remained at least until the reorg: Bob hawked souvenirs the old-fashioned way (for more than 40 years); Toastman - by day, city official Rod Blackstone - highlighted opponents' failures by shouting "You’re toast!" as he tossed toast to the crowd. Meanwhile, the Rowdies - led by one "Billy Bob" - personified the name.

The ballpark was one of three home fields used by Marshall University, whose campus is located some 50 miles away in Huntington, WV, prior to the opening of Jack Cook Field in 2024.

GoMart has a capacity of 4,474 people.