This Appy League team has fans in stitches

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The following ballpark road trip recap is presented by Wyndham, proud sponsor of *Minor League Ballpark Guides*. Start planning your 2025 road trips today!

I visited the Danville Otterbots on July 29, returning to the Appalachian League for the first time since it transformed into a summer-collegiate circuit prior to the 2021 campaign. Before leaving town the following morning, I drove to Danville’s Ballou Park Shopping Center.

Where there is now a strip mall, League Park (home of the Danville Leafs) once stood. The Leafs played their final season in 1958, upon which the ballpark was disassembled, shipped via rail to Burlington, N.C., and built anew prior to the 1960 season. Today, it’s the home of the Sock Puppets.

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Burlington Athletic Stadium, originally known as Fairchild Park, initially hosted the Carolina League Burlington Indians. Since 1986, it has been home to an Appalachian League team: The Indians (1986-2006), Royals (2007-20) and, now, the Sock Puppets. This moniker, undertaken as part of a league-wide rebrand when the Appy League switched from affiliated to summer-collegiate, honors the Burlington area’s “rich textile tradition.”

Burlington’s time as a Cleveland affiliate was a particularly fertile period, featuring an array of future superstars at the start of their pro careers. To learn more, visit the men’s room.

As one would expect from a venerable ballpark initially constructed in a different state, Burlington Athletic Stadium has a simple, classic layout.

Steep ramps lead to the covered grandstand, which features seats in its lower half and bleachers beyond. (A layout also known as “Business in the front, party in the back.”)

Additional bleacher seating areas are located down the first- and third-base lines. The latest and greatest ballpark addition is a multilevel right-field entertainment deck, equipped with its own kitchen.

The above photo is from the Sock Puppets’ Facebook page, as I somehow failed to take a decent shot of the deck that evening. But I am nonetheless in possession of (too) many stellar Sock Puppet photos, as I was joined at the ballpark by MLB Live Content Creator Kathryn Skeean. If a photo in this post exceeds the quality of those you’re used to, it’s because she took it.

It was the final game of the regular season, with the Sock Puppets taking on the aforementioned Danville Otterbots.

The Sock Puppet Station, located just to the right of the main entrance, provides fans with the material to make their own.

Mascot Socksquatch is like a sock puppet come to life. In the below photo, he’s joined by a fast-food bovine and Whiff, self-described “pirate prince of baseball.” As you’ll soon see, Whiff is also a professional fire-breather.

Burlington Athletic Stadium was (sock) hoppin’ on this Tuesday night, packed to an extent that the front office didn’t quite anticipate. Over various points of the evening, general manager Anderson Rathbun could be found selling tickets, pouring beers and working the grill in the kitchen area. All hands on deck.

While I don’t need a team to (metaphorically) hold my hand throughout a visit, I was feeling adrift. Amid the hectic atmosphere, it was difficult to obtain background info and line up interviews. Not knowing quite what to do, I clambered up to the charming rooftop shack that passes for a press box.

Within that shack, there was a man tasked with aural dissemination of the evening’s action. I spent an inning on the air with that man, Sock Puppets broadcaster Kevin Vera, who was wearing a shirt emblazoned with hundreds (if not thousands) of Sock Puppets.

The roof is a great spot from which to take pictures (there are a lot more where this came from):

When it came to “Designated Eater” food coverage on this North Carolina-centric road trip, I had to scramble at nearly every location. In Kinston no one volunteered and I had to recruit at the ballpark; in Greensboro the guy who was initially going to do it got sick; in Durham there was a cascading series of dramatic events I’ve already covered in depth. In Burlington? My guy simply didn’t show up, and said guy never offered explanation or apology. C’mon guy!

Time was running short and the team, having not anticipated the crowd it received, was running low on ingredients. Kathryn volunteered to be the Designated Eater, resulting in the photographer briefly becoming the photographed.

Kathryn’s a talented photographer and videographer -- a “content creator,” if you will -- who works all sorts of MLB-affiliated events but primarily covers the Braves. She sampled two items, with the first being the Laundry Basket Nachos. The concession stands were out of BBQ pork, however, leaving macaroni and cheese as the star accoutrement.

Kathryn deemed these nachos to be “texturally interesting” and, “as far as ballpark nachos go, pretty darn good.”

And that’s a wrap. Sorry, no. I have one more food item to highlight. And that’s a wrap:

A chicken ranch wrap, to be precise. Kathryn deemed herself “not a wrap girl” and also “not a huge ranch girl,” but nonetheless said that the “chicken is grilled to perfection. It’s crispy, and it’s good.”

Remaining in right field, it was a quick transition from food to fans. Scott Allred, of Allred Insurance, advertises at the ballpark and attends nearly every game. When the Sock Puppets were new in town he invited GM Anderson Rathbun to a weekly poker game, which solidified their relationship and led to new ones.

Derek Wilkie, a local business owner, was at that poker gathering. He grew up going to Burlington Indians games and immediately signed on to support the Sock Puppets.

“Now I get to raise my son [Rylen, pictured] and my daughter here in this stadium, doing what I got to do as a kid,” he said. “Anderson brought baseball back here, to the way it was with the Indians.”

Indeed, the place was hopping through the final out and then some. After the Sock Puppets dispatched the Otterbots, 11-7, Whiff the Clown Pirate Prince took the field and performed a truly impressive fire-breathing routine.

After that the pyrotechnics moved from Whiff’s mouth to the night sky.

There’s no need to disassemble this ballpark and then ship it somewhere else. Appalachian League baseball in Burlington, North Carolina, is alive and well and in it for the long haul.

Thanks, as always, for reading. And, as always, get in touch anytime. I’ll (almost certainly) be glad to hear from you.