Day 56: June 3, 1991

Sumter, SC

Columbia, SC

Parks # 61 & 62

What I Remember

From an historical perspective Capital City Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina belongs in the same lists of honor as some of the other South Atlantic League parks I have written about in recent days: Luther Williams Field in Macon, Grayson Stadium in Savannah and Duncan Park in Spartanburg were all built in the same era. But for whatever reason, I don’t remember this park the same way. The park had recently undergone a big renovation when we saw it, I think, and it seemed to have a lot more metal bleachers and plastic seats than some of those others. It may be that it was an improvement for the day to day fan but not as much for someone looking for unique ballparks.

Regardless, the stadium, which stopped being used for minor league baseball several years ago is likely to be demolished and the land redeveloped in the next few months and I always feel sad about that.

I liked Riley Park in Sumter. It was not grand or fancy in any respect but it was comfortable in the same way that many of the parks I later came to enjoy in the Appalachian League was. But Flyers was an appropriate name for that team, which used it for just one year. After the 1991 season the Sumter Flyers moved to Albany, Georgia and Sumter has not had an affiliated team since.