Baseball In Downtown, Devereux Meadow Meets Progress In Raleigh
Courtesy of the North Carolina State Archives
It’s no secret but most people don’t know about the baseball stadium that once stood near downtown. That’s right, at one point in time, minor league sluggers were blasting home runs onto what would eventually become Capital Blvd. The ballpark once sat in the area highlighted in the map below and this is where I’d like to focus the conversation today.
Click image for wider view.
Raleigh’s Team
The Raleigh Capitals once played at Devereux Meadow Ballpark which was located along present day Peace Street between West Street and Capital Blvd. The stadium was built in 1938 and baseball had its up and downs here until the site was cleared in 1979. In the name of “progress”, the area was then used for city services, a parking lot for waste disposal vehicles really. I want to highlight two articles I found that mention the stadium meeting the wrecking ball, written around that time.
Sentiment Surrounds Wrecking Of Park – The Time-News June 27, 1979.
Wrecker’s Ball Puts End To Ballpark – The Tuscaloosa News June 27th, 1979.
Courtesy of the North Carolina State Archives
What is there now?
The area today contains few offices or very little of anything representing density or urbanity. The city has been using the lots for parking waste services trucks and other utility vehicles. A few businesses reside off West Street in “off the beaten path” office space with very little car and pedestrian traffic on West Street.
However, the more important resource in this area is the Pigeon House Branch Creek that snakes through the Devereux Meadow site and hides underneath certain streets in downtown. Here’s an excellent blog post tracking the creek through the site. Last I checked, the creek was on the state’s list of impaired waterways and the city is trying to remedy this. One example of a fix has been the water garden at nearby Fred Fletcher park. I bet most readers have driven or walked through this area and never knew that a creek was flowing underneath.
The Future
As far as I know, there are no plans for Devereux Meadow at this moment. Ideas of a river walk have come up but nothing has materialized from that. It’s all talk at this point but that allows the online peanut gallery here to dream up ideas for this large piece of property on the edge of downtown.
More on that later….
Comments
Great spot for a low-rise office complex that houses Police/Fire/Emergency Management headquarters as well as city government offices. We can call it the Gaylord Bonner Municipal Plaza!
What a shame that it was torn down… so MANY tragic stories of buildings lost during the 60s and 70s… and it seems most just were torn down to be parking lots. Wow, that’s great planning. I think a river walk could be a very neat idea. Line it with some independent shops and restaurants with riverfront seating, and a wide paved walkway on both sides of the river, lined by trees. Could be very cool and pretty, and a great draw to the area. Just sayin’ …
Wonderful post and thanks for the link! I attended many ball games here as a child and have nice memories of the games. I am looking forward to the “riverwalk” greenway planned by Pigeon House Branch in this area – but no hopes for restoring the ballpark, I fear.
[...] which disappeared over time, joining Isaac Hunter’s Tavern, Raleigh Municipal Airport, and Devereaux Meadows ballpark in obscurity. This has been a recurring theme in Raleigh’s history, sadly [...]
I watched the Raleigh Caps and the Cardinals play baseball there as a child. Broughton High School’s football team used Devereux Meadow as their home field and so did Sanderson High School until Sanderson’s football stadium was completed in 1971. I lived in Italy from 1979-1981 and was shocked and saddened when I returned and drove by the site and saw garbage trucks and other city vehicles parked there.
I watched many baseball games at Devereux Meadow in my youth, but the place was worn out by 1979. It wasn’t worth spending $$$$ of public money to save. While it may be sad to lose something from the past, not everything can and should be saved. It served the purpose for which it was built, lived out its life, and now it is gone.
[...] The Raleigh Riverwalk is a proposed project that would develop the Pigeon House Branch Creek and drainage system into a tourist destination. If completed, the Riverwalk would run through downtown adjacent to Devereux Meadows, home to Raleigh’s very own former minor league baseball team- the Raleigh Capitals. [...]
I was lucky enough to see several games there. The Raleigh/Durham Triangles’ home field- affiliate of the Houston Astros, I believe
.
I was also fortunate enough to play there on several occasions with the Cary Legion Baseball team in 76-77. It was fun place to play gave you that major league feel. Also played at the Durham Athletic Park before it was shut down. Lots of great memories in both of those places!
My Daddy used to carry me to the ballgames there, much like we took our children to Durham, thanks for the great memory.
It was a hot Day in late July, 1952. The Cap’s were playing Fayetteville in the Meadow and the starting pitcher for the Cap’s had just been made a father of a brand new baby boy a few days earlier. To celebrate, he hit three home runs, a single and a double, won 15-2 and tied Muscle Shoals record of three homers in one game. His name was Al Cleary, I was the baby boy.
I still have the bat used, broken in batting practice, the next day. It is old now and many of the signatures are hard to read. One that stands out though is “Crash Davis”.
I forgot to mention. Two records were tied that day 7/27/52
3 homers in one game (record tied)
Total bases, one game -15
record tied Al Cleary, Muscle Shoals
Info taken from the 1953 Carolina league record book
Most valuable player 1952 Leonard Matarazzo on the cover
I have tons of memorabilia and stories, such as when Cleary faced Jackie Robinson In Minnisota in ’41? Robinson did not get on base. BTW.
I am assuming much of this info exists nowhere else, at leat I have not seen it.
Bryan, that’s an awesome story. There aren’t any team statistics saved anywhere? What was the name of the league that the Capitals played in?
Wow..that is amazing thank you for that bit of reasearch.. What Deveolpers can do Is get the photos of the Once Stadium and try to rebuild it,Creating a Stadium/River Walk in the area.”Ding”…there is your Destination spot. I’m sure that Parking and other Venues can be sorted out,But that would be a new addition to Downtown Raleigh. A pleasent Riverwalk where folks can lounge and gather together,A Stadium,where you can just Walk to the game or a short drive downtown rather than Drive all the way to Zebulon to watch the MudCats Play,hence saving gas to get there..There is just not enough Creative thinking to look at the big Picture. I hope that Someone see my Comment and Pass Along this bit of info to City Leaders and Developers and give it some serious consideration.
In the day, when one Mr. Brock owned the baseball team, my father was the ticket taker. One night they had a Shetland pony give away. By chance, my sister won. Lady behind us caught wind of my father’s vocation, and protested the fix was in. The funny thing being, was that my father had 5 kids and worked two jobs to support them. It wasn’t like he wanted to add a Shetland Pony to mix. I am sure he was relieved.
Very cool. I had no idea there was a ballpark there. I grew up in Charlotte and remember being heartbroken when they tore down Crockett park where the Charlotte O’s played. I know Dan Douglas has some visions for this area as well. See here:
http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid:403156