Skylands Park

CenturyLink Field at Skylands Park
Location	94 Championship Place Augusta, NJ 07822
Built	1994
Opened	1994
Operator	Millenium Sports Management
Surface	Natural Grass
Capacity	4,200
Field dimensions	Left Field: 330 ft Center Field: 392 ft Right Field: 330 ft
Tenants
Sussex Skyhawks (Can-Am League) (2006-2010) Newark Bears (Atlantic League) (1999) New Jersey Cardinals (NY - Penn League) (1994-2005) New Jersey Stags (BNEFF)(2010)

CenturyLink Field at Skylands Park is a baseball stadium located in Augusta, New Jersey. Skylands Park opened in 1994 and was built for the New Jersey Cardinals, the New York-Penn League affiliate for the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals called the park home until 2005, after which the team was sold and moved. The Cardinals were replaced by the Sussex Skyhawks, an independent minor league team that began play in 2006 and folded after the 2010 season. Skylands Park also served as the home field for several other sports organizations. As of July 2011, no professional baseball team currently uses Skylands Park.

In May 2010, telecommunications company CenturyLink bought naming rights to Skylands Park. There is an official seating capacity of 4,200.

History

Ground was broken in the fall of 1993 for a new minor league ballpark. The Hamilton Redbirds, the Cardinals' New York-Penn League affiliate, were in a transition to move out of their home in Hamilton, Ontario to Augusta, New Jersey and had temporarily spent the 1993 season in Glens Falls, New York as the Glens Falls Redbirds. As part of the move, the team was to change its name to the Cardinals. The winter of 1994 brought the worst weather in several years to North Jersey, but the new ballpark managed to open on time that June and the Cardinals moved in. The stadium's luxury boxes were not completed until the following year.

The park is designed to look a little bit like a farm complex from the outside. Augusta has long been the home of dairy farms, and the Cardinals wanted to make their stadium blend in.

The Cardinals called Skylands Park home from 1994 to 2005. After the season the team was sold to a new ownership group based in University Park, Pennsylvania, home of Penn State University, and were relocated there to become known as the State College Spikes; the team is no longer affiliated with the Cardinals and is instead affiliated with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In 1998, Skylands Park was designated the home field for the New Jersey Diamonds of the Ladies Professional Baseball League, a league for women that began play the previous year. However, the Diamonds played only eight home games before the league folded.

In 1999, the field hosted several games for the Newark Bears of the independent Atlantic League, prior to the completion of their new home, Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium. Skylands Park also hosted the Sussex County Colonels of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League, a collegiate summer baseball league, for several seasons.

On January 10, 2006, it was announced that Skylands Park would be the home to the newly named profesional baseball team called the Sussex Skyhawks of the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball. On May 29, 2006, the Skyhawks played their first regular season game at Skylands Park, dropping an 18-11 decision to the North Shore Spirit. In early January 2011, it was announced that the Sussex Skyhawks would not be returning for the 2011 season, and it is unsure as to whether any team will call Skylands Park home for the 2011 season, although there have been discussions.

The New Jersey Stags, a Semi-Pro Football team in the BNEFF played their inaugural 2010 season at the ballpark. But in May 2011, the Stags announced that they will not play at Skylands anymore, and will instead use Macerino Stadium at Vernon Township High School for the 2011 season.

External links

• Skylands Park Views - Ball Parks of the Minor Leagues
• Sussex Skyhawks official website]
• Skylands Park Review and Photos
• http://www.jerseystags.com/Stags/Home.html