Tombstone
Born: 1995 – Northeast League founding franchise
Folded: 1996
First Game:
Last Game:
Northeast League Championships: None
Stadium
Ownership & Affiliation
Attendance
Background
The Newburgh Nighthawks were a low-budget independent pro baseball team that played in the Hudson Valley region of New York for two summers during the mid-1990’s. The Nighthawks were overshadowed in the area by the Hudson Valley Renegades of the New York-Penn League, who played at the brand new $8 million Dutchess Stadium in nearby Fishkill, which opened just a year before the Nighthawks formed in 1995.
By contrast, the Nighthawks played at Delano-Hitch Stadium, a small no-fills ballpark that was 70 years old.
Notable Names
During the Northeast League’s first season in 1995, former Major League pitcher Floyd Youmans pitched six games for Newburgh. Ex-Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox outfielder Ron LeFlore was the team’s field manager in 1995.
In 1996, Newburgh featured 35-year old Ken Dixon, who won 11 games for the Baltimore Orioles in 1986. The 1996 Nighthawks also sent one player to the Majors – 26-year old pitcher Joel Bennett, who later had a cup of coffee with the Orioles (1998) and the Philadelphia Phillies (1999). The ’96 Nighthawks team went 55-25 under new field manager Dan Shwam. Newburgh lost to the Albany-Colonie Diamond Dogs in the Northeast League championship series.
Team owner Jeff Kunion shut down the Nighthawks after the 1996 season citing the inadequacy of Delano-Hitch Stadium and the city’s unwillingness to make improvements to it. Two summers later, Newburgh briefly hosted a team in the independent Atlantic League – the Newburgh Black Diamonds – but they departed for Pennsylvania after only one season. Pro baseball has never returned since.
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