Tarboro Stadium
Tarboro, NC
Review by Gary
In 1937, a baseball stadium was built in the small North Carolina town of Tarboro, founded 176 years earlier by British colonists as a prosperous port on the Tar River. Little did these English know that baseball would become a popular recreational diversion for the citizens of the bustling town. Numerous teams would call the original field on this site, called Bryan Park, home until the wooden grandstand burned to the ground.
A concrete and steel stand was completed in 1945 and the ballpark was renamed Tarboro Municipal Stadium in time for the 1946 season arrival of the Boston Red Sox minor league affiliate Tarboro Tars of the Coastal Plain League. Next, the Philadelphia A’s minor league team sparred here for two years in the 1950s. Since then, many a team has called this WPA ballpark “home”. Today, the venue is home field for the Tarboro High School Vikings as well as the Tarboro River Bandits, part of the summer collegiate Old North State League.
With a capacity of about 3,000, Tarboro Municipal Stadium is comprised of a natural grass field with 420’ to centerfield and short foul poles at 316’ and a “Pesky” 302’ pole in right, the latter coincidentally (or not?) the same distance as Fenway Park’s right field right field pole.
Paying Spectators enter through the main home plate entrance and fan out left or right as there are no seating options directly behind home plate save for the press box at the top of the grandstand. All the seats are under a metal roof, but nonpaying folks can see most of the action through the chain link fence that runs down the right field side of the park. Both dugouts are at field level with the operations of the facility located under the concrete stands.
Tarboro’s classic stadium looks to be a delightful place for anyone living in or near this town of just over 10,000 to catch a ballgame. Even a British colonist would enjoy seeing a match here.
2025
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