Eagle Field
Harrisonburg, VA
Review by Gary
Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park is a baseball stadium on the campus of James Madison University (JMU) in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Named after a local couple who were active members of the community, Eagle Field is home to the JMU Dukes of the NCAA Sun Belt Conference and Harrisonburg Turks of the Valley Baseball League. The location of Eagle Field has been home to baseball since the 1940s. The Turks played on that field until 2008 when construction on the current facility began.
James Madison and the rock star Prince have one thing in common: their love of purple. Emblematic of royalty, JMU’s Dukes and Prince’s affinity for purple abounds. The entire JMU ballpark is lathered in purple paint. The span of the outfield wall, bleacher chairbacks down the baselines and every fixed seat behind home plate is purple. Eagle Field’s climate-controlled press box was spared the purple latex and sits behind the grandstand walkway.
Built in 2010, the ballpark and adjacent softball field are on the eastern side of the campus that straddles Interstate 81. On the grand concourse, visitors have easy access to the restrooms and concession stands before making the two-story climb up to the seating area. From there, “delirious” fans can maneuver along a wide walkway before descending to their seats below. Every one of the 1,200 seats provides superb views of the field. Sadly, none of these seats are covered to shield fans from the purple rain, should the skies open up. While not advertised and not actually in the ballpark, passersby can catch the ballgame from the hill that runs beyond the outfield walls.
As a Sign o’ the Times, FieldTurf was carpeted over the entire playing surface in 2020. This includes the pitching mound, batter’s box, and warning track around the perimeter. These three features are painted to look like dirt, as the “warning track” offers no actual alert to outfielders chasing flyballs towards the oncoming purple wall. Surprisingly, Eagle Field’s scoreboard is merely a line score type with the facility’s name atop it that replaced the original in 2020. This lackluster scoreboard does not seem commensurate with the grandeur of the rest of the stadium.
A number of Dukes and Turks players have made it all the way to the Majors. Over thirty MLBers once wore the Turks uniform on their way up the ladder. Longtime Texas Ranger Billy Sample played for both the Dukes and Turks early in his career. Regardless of which team you come to see, Eagle Field is an enjoyable place to go crazy watching America’s Game. There is ample parking for all vehicles, from 1999 trucks to little red Corvettes.
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2026
289
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