Watt Powell Park

From BR Bullpen

Watt Powell Park in Charleston, WV, was the home of Charleston affiliated baseball from 1949 through 2004. After that, the Charleston AlleyCats of the South Atlantic League began playing in a new downtown ballpark as the West Virginia Power.

Watt Powell was built in 1948-1949 and hosted its first baseball game April 28th before about 8,000 fans.[1] It replaced Kanawha Park, which had burned down in 1944 after two years of sitting empty during World War II, on the same piece of land. Likely because of that, it was built in concrete and steel in a time that most in the minors were still wooden. In style while not size, it was quite similar to the MLB stadiums of the day. Virginia native Walter "Watt" Powell, whose baseball career included 11 years in the minors without denting the big leagues and a stint at the helm of the Charleston Senators, also served on the Charleston City Council and was instrumental in building both ballparks. He did not live to see his second effort, dying November 6, 1948.

"The Watt" may have hosted some Negro Leagues baseball. At least one source suggests at least barnstorming games in Charleston from 1935 through 1949 and lists Kanawha Park as the site,[2] but what of that park's destruction and the fact that any 1949 games there would actually have been played at Watt Powell? The possibilities: 1) Black baseball started at Kanawha and moved elsewhere after the fire, an answer that leaves open whether it returned in 1949 or stayed wherever it had gone; 2) Perhaps only white baseball abandoned the site; although stadiums burn down, the land remains - and baseball on plots of land that are unimproved except for three base bags, two plates, some chalk and maybe a fence - even with spectators - was a much closer memory in the 1940s than now.

The Charleston Senators who christened Watt Powell in April 1949 played in the Class A Central League, but the circuit folded in 1951. Problematic as that may have been for the other member teams, it proved to be fortuitous for Charleston baseball: In 1952, the American Association's Toledo Mud Hens had become financially strapped enough to go looking for a new home and Watt Powell was still a near-state of the art stadium that was big enough for Triple-A in a city with a history of supporting pro baseball yet had no team. The Hens flew their coop to become Senators June 23rd, but they ended up folding three years later.

The Triple-A Charleston Marlins, a franchise that leapt across four cities and a coastline - twice - in just three seasons, played most of 1961 at The Watt. A story that probably started out as either an assumption or great-story-over-facts marketing has achieved urban legend status. The story: The Miami Marlins moved to Puerto Rico during the 1960-1961 off-season, only to be driven out - to Charleston - when a hurricane destroyed their stadium. The facts: The expelling force was not wind but economics, with a dash of politics. After his first season as the Marlins' owner, Bill MacDonald got approval from his fellow IL owners to move the team to San Juan, PR, during the 1960-1961 off-season. The San Juan Marlins drew 6,627 to their April 17th home opener, but in an unhappy coincidence the Bay of Pigs invasion happened the same day. Related U.S. activity had been staged partly in Puerto Rico, many of whose citizens favored full sovereignty for their island. Whether or not that was a factor, the Marlins' second-day crowd was just 1,897 and the total of the 14 post-opener dates was fewer than 20,000. As attendance stayed under 1,500 - roughly half of MacDonald's projections - and travel costs stayed at the projected far higher level than for other trips, a groundswell from the same owners who'd voted yes now pushed MacDonald to abandon his experiment. (Hurricane? Stadium? Sixto Escobar Stadium was then nearly 30 years old and, although re-purposed to soccer, still stands. What's more, 1961's first Atlantic hurricane - Anna - didn't form until July 20th and passed more than 1,100 miles south of San Juan.) The Marlins played before a three-figure Wednesday crowd on May 17th and next played in Charleston on Friday the 19th in front of 3,608. MacDonald, who chose Charleston largely because it offered Watt Powell Park for $1 a year, responded to that gate by saying he would consider a 2,500 average to be "a huge success". The presumably weary ballplayers lived with jokes about marlins in mountains far from any deep-sea fishing while drawing nearly 2,100 per game to their 39 remaining dates. Nevertheless, MacDonald announced the following October that he was moving them to Atlanta, GA, where they became the Crackers.

Watt Powell did host an Eastern League team from 1962 through 1964 but sat vacant through 1970. Then, Charlestonian Bob Levine bought and moved the Columbus Jets. He named them the Charlies - for his father, not the city. After Charlie's 1981 death; Bob sold the team to owners who moved it to Maine in 1984.

Watt Powell regained affiliated ball, back in Class A, by landing a South Atlantic League franchise in 1987. Starting as the Charleston Wheelers and ending as the Charleston AlleyCats, that franchise achieved the longest run in Charleston baseball history - one successful enough to get a new stadium in 2005. However, it did not survive MLB's 2021 Minor League Reorganization. Pro baseball continues at Appalachian Power Park, as the independent Atlantic League picked up four of the cut teams - two immediately, including Charleston.

The Watt was torn down soon after "The App" opened - except for light standards that remained for several years. The land is now occupied partly by the parking lot of a nearby medical facility and partly by the Kanawha City Community Center.

Teams that have played here[edit]

External Link[edit]

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