American Legion Post 325 Field

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(Redirected from Dan Daniel Memorial Park)

American Legion Post 325 Field
Location Danville, VA
Tenants
Danville Braves, 1993-2019; Danville 97s, 1998
Capacity
2,588 (largest reported baseball crowd: 3,289)
  • Dimensions:
    • Left Field: 330 feet
    • Center Field: 400 feet
    • Right Field: 330 feet


American Legion Post 325 Field in Danville, VA, was the home of Danville affiliated baseball from 1993 through 2019. After that and the Coronavirus pandemic-canceled 2020 season, MLB's Minor League Reorganization made the Rookie-Advanced Appalachian League a collegiate wood-bat circuit.

Located in Dan Daniel Memorial Park along the - you guessed it - Dan River, it was built by the city in 1992. The Atlanta Braves moved their Appy team from Pulaski, VA, the next season.

The D-Braves repeatedly led the league in attendance in the 1990s, including a since-broken season record, but first drew a 3,000 single-game crowd in 2017.

If you got lost in all those Dans: The city is named for the river, which Virginia pioneer William Byrd named for the biblical city, and the municipal park is named for 1969-1988 Congressman Dan Daniel.

Danville professional baseball dated to 1905 but was a memory from 1958 through 1993. Fans were treated to two seasons in one in 1998, when the Durham Bulls of Bull Durham (1988) film fame played there as the Danville 97s. Displaced by 1998 Triple-A expansion, they had chosen Myrtle Beach, SC, as their new home - but it took a year to build a suitable stadium there. Their one-season Danville nickname remembered the famed 1903 wreck of the Old 97 mail train near Danville.