Capital City Stadium

Capital City Stadium
Location	Columbia, South Carolina United States
Building chronology
Built	1949
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Former Tenants
Capital City Bombers Columbia Blowfish
Capacity
5,500

Capital City Stadium in Columbia, SC, was the home of Columbia affiliated baseball from 1991 through 2004. After that, the Capital City Bombers of the South Atlantic League began playing in a new ballpark in Greenville, SC, as the Greenville Drive.

Built in 1927, "The Cap" was entirely rebuilt in 1991. The original ballpark also hosted some Negro Leagues baseball. The Shelby Mets moved into it in 1983, returning affiliated baseball to town after a 22-season absence. In 1993, the Columbia Mets changed their name to Capital City Bombers - in honor of the Doolittle Raiders, the World War II bomber crew that trained in Columbia before its historic raid on Tokyo.

Professional ball returned in a new downtown stadium that opened in 2016. The Cap was optioned by a developer, but after several false starts the firm sold its option to another developer. Demolition was delayed so the structure could be classified as abandoned, thus earning the new owner a tax incentive. The city scheduled a reverse open house - "Closing Day" - on April 4, 2020, but had to postpone it due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Columbia's daily newspaper, The State, reported in January 2022 that the deal's final stretch was finally in progress,[1] but the Charleston Post and Courier reported December 15th that the deal had fallen through "within the last couple of months" amid rising interest rates and inflation.[2] That prompted Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann to suggest the city demolish the ballpark and put the lot back on the market.

After losing professional baseball, the ballpark served as the home of the Columbia Blowfish of the summer collegiate Coastal Plain League until they moved to Lexington, SC, after the 2014 season. Lexington landed the club, which decided to move when faced with the return of affiliated baseball to Columbia, by building a new ballpark.