Centennial Field Informations

Centennial Field is the name of the baseball stadium at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont and is the home of the Vermont Lake Monsters of the New York Penn League (minor league), the Short Season Class A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics.

Beyond the left-field fence is the former home of the University of Vermont's men's and women's soccer teams as well as once serving as UVM's home field for its men's and women's lacrosse teams, and its football team (1900–1974).

The field takes its name, Centennial Field, from the fact that the land on which it was built was dedicated to its current purpose on July 6, 1904, at the conclusion of the three-day celebration of the 100th anniversary of UVM's first graduating class. Its first baseball game was on April 17, 1906 with UVM's 10–4 victory over the University of Maine. Larry Gardner was the first batter for UVM. Future-Boston Red Sox pitcher Ray Collins started the game for Vermont and threw the first pitch at the ballpark. Gardner and Collins are among 11 former Catamounts to reach the major leagues, the latest being Matt Duffy, who played on the most recent UVM teams in 2008 and 2009, and made his big league debut in 2015 for the Astros.

In addition to the baseball field, the adjacent soccer field was used by the University of Vermont football team until 1974, and UVM's men's and women's lacrosse teams in the 1990s through 2006. The school's men's soccer team played there from 1975 to 2011 and the women played there from 1995–2011 before moving to Virtue Field on campus. The Centennial Field soccer stands had 5,000 seats and drew America East record crowds during the 1989 postseason when UVM advanced to the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship East Regional Finals with wins over Yale and UConn. Vermont hosted the long-running Smith Barney Men's Soccer Classic at Centennial Field that featured many national powers including UCLA, Stanford, Old Dominion, San Francisco, New Mexico and North Carolina. Its recent women's soccer tournament has featured Indiana, Notre Dame and Villanova.

During the era that Catamounts had a football team, Centennial Field had stands on both sides of the gridiron and UVM's game with UMass in 1966 had a record crowd of 10,000 fans. Vermont that season featured Little All-American halfback Bobby Mitchell and UMass had future NFL QB Greg Landry. The football field was also the home to several Vermont high school state championship games.

The baseball ballpark was part of the sports complex constructed as part of the UVM Centennial celebration. The original wooden baseball bleachers burned on March 12, 1913. The current concrete and steel main grandstand was erected in 1922. Today, it seats 4,415 for baseball.

The first UVM ice hockey game was played on the football portion of Centennial Field. The field's large foul territory comes from the running track that at one time circled the park, including the area where the grandstand currently stands.

Centennial Field in the summer of 2005 was the Vermont stop on ESPN's "50 States in 50 Days" tour. In 2007 it was recognized by ESPN.com's Jim Caple as one of the top 10 ball park destinations in the U.S. It is also featured in the 2008 book, "101 Baseball Places To See Before You Strike Out" by Josh Pahigian (2008, The Lyons Press).

Centennial Field showed its age and was in need of repair in 2010 to meet minor league baseball ballpark standards. Much needed upgrades began in earnest after that season with Lake Monsters owner Ray Pecor investing in over $1 million in improvements prior to the start of the 2012 season, and another $1 million prior to 2013. Pecor made these improvements -including new lights, a state-of-the-art video scoreboard and many field-surface improvements after agreeing with then-UVM president John Bramley on a 20-year lease just $1 per year.

On June 28, 2012, Oakland extended its minor league player development contract through the end of the 2014 season. In the announcement Athletics vice president and general manager Billy Beane was quoted as saying, "The baseball history and community support in Burlington makes it a very special place. We look forward to this partnership growing for many years to come."

With the movement of UVM's soccer facility to Virtue Field after the 2011 season, baseball will be the primary sport played at Centennial Field. In addition to the Lake Monsters, the Vermont Principal's Association's four state championship games returned to Centennial Field in 2012 after a two-year absence.In 2003, 2005, and 2006, the field hosted the America East Conference Baseball Tournament. In 2003 and 2006, Vermont won the conference's regular season championship. In the past it also hosted American Legion baseball and was home to the American Legion Northeast Regional tournament in 2007.

On February 20, 2009 it lost its longest tenant with Director of Athletics Dr. Robert Corran announcing the University of Vermont would discontinue the varsity baseball (and varsity softball) program following the completion of the 2009 season. Corran said at the time that he expected that the university would continue to maintain and the baseball field before Bramley stepped in by leasing it to the Lake Monsters for 20 years starting in 2012. The UVM baseball team played its last home game of the 2009 season at Centennial Field on May 12, 2009 when they hosted Bryant in a midweek non-conference doubleheader. The Catamounts last contest was two weeks later at the 2009 America East Baseball Championship in Endicott, N.Y. UVM won nine of its last 10 conference games to qualify for the postseason for the seventh time since 2002. Five members of the 2009 team, Justin Albert, Matt Duffy, Justin Milo, Ethan Paquette and Joe Serafin, would be drafted by or sign with major league organizations.

Centennial Field has been home to affiliated minor league and summer collegiate baseball teams through the years.

Dr. Clarence Beecher, a one-time mayor of Burlington and dean of the UVM College of Medicine, led a group that brought the Philadelphia Athletics' Provincial League Class C team to play at Centennial Field in 1955, Vermont's first affiliated minor league team. The Provincial League was founded in 1935 and based in Quebec. The League was affiliated with the National Association from 1940 to 1943 and 1950 to 1955. Between 1950 and 1955, it was a Class C minor-league; the Philadelphia Athletics had an affiliate during this time. In 1954, the American League Athletics were based in Philadelphia and their Provincial League club in Drummondville, Quebec.

Dr. Beecher had been president of the Burlington Cardinals during the Northern League's final season and assumed the same position with the new club when the Provincial League Dummondville club became available in the fall of 1954.

The 1955 Burlington Athletics attracted 51,267 fans to Centennial Field for the season, the second highest attendance in the League. Burlington went 65-64 to finish in third-place, 20.5 games behind the first-place St. Jean Canadians. Burlington pitcher Jack Hale tied for the league-lead in wins with 17. In the playoffs, Burlington beat first-place St. Jean in the first round but lost the championship to the Quebec Braves, four games to one. Two of the 1955 Athletics, pitcher Bob Davis and outfielder Bill Kern would reach the major leagues.

The Provincial League was not financially sustainable and disbanded prior to the 1956 season.

Affiliated minor League baseball returned to Centennial Field in 1984 when Mike Agganis moved his AA Eastern League Lynn Pirates from Lynn, Massachusetts to Burlington. The club had been affiliated with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Agganis signed a four-year agreement with the Cincinnati Reds. The club was renamed the Vermont Reds.

The club finished in fourth-place in 1984 and 1985, and in second-place in 1986. The Reds excelled in the post-season and won the Eastern League championship each of these three years. Vermont finished fourth again in 1987 but lost in the League finals. Barry Larkin, Jeff Montgomery, Rob Dibble, Kal Daniels, Chris Sabo, and Norm Charlton all starred in Burlington and became the core of the 1990 World Champion Cincinnati Reds.

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