| Delano-Hitch was the home of the Newburgh Night Hawks of the Northeast Baseball League from 1995-96 and the Newburgh Black Diamonds of the Atlantic League in 1998. At the time, it was a fine facility for such a low level of the minors - better than some parks which were in use in the New York-Penn League and Northern League. Unfortunately it has been the home of teams with poor management and uncertain futures. The park received some major renovations after the 1998 season. A new building was constructed along the first base line that houses the clubhouses as well as a concession stand. Also included in the renovation was the removal of the rickety wooden bleachers that were down both foul lines. They were replaced by individual folding chairs on a metal grandstand. They really did a nice job of blending the new sections into the existing covered grandstand. A new pressbox was added before the '98 season. Also added for the '98 season was a manual scoreboard in right field. It really adds a nice touch to the park. The field is currently the only problem with this park - it is very uneven, especially in the outfield. Definitely a pitchers park with big dimensions, though it seemed to be a great triples park as the ground is hard, and balls get to the gaps very quickly. Concessions and souvenirs were set up out behind the grandstand on a grassy knoll. The future for baseball at Delano-Hitch does not look bright. There have been no rumors of Newburgh getting a team since the Black Diamonds left after the '98 season. With an ownership group that cared and promoted the team properly, I am confident that a team could draw 1,500 fans a game from this well populated area. A college league team did use this park for several years after the Black Diamonds left, but since then, it has received little use. Though in 2015, professional baseball returned as the startup North Country Baseball League put a team here. The Newts lasted just a couple of weeks, however, and then left the city due to "lack of community support". But that was just a line from the team as the community was never given a chance to support the team because of poor marketing. It is very unlikely that professional baseball will ever return to "The Hitch" as it simply is not a suitable ballpark in this era for anything more than amateur baseball.
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