Leary Field is a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

park in

Portsmouth, New Hampshire Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census it had a population of 21,956. A historic seaport and popular summer tourist destination on ...

, adjacent to the South Playground. Local

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States, U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It comprises U.S. state, state, Territories of the United States, U.S. terr ...

teams play there. It was the home of the Seacoast Mavericks, a summer team of the

Futures Collegiate Baseball League The Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL) is a collegiate summer baseball league that began play in 2011. Entering the 2025 season, the league has two active franchises in Massachusetts, two in Connecticut, and one each in New Hampshire and ...

, occasionally in 2012 and continuously from 2013 through 2017. It will be home to the Northeast Tides of the North Shore Baseball League in 2020.

Layout

Leary Field has a covered wooden grandstand (pictured), aluminum seating on the third base side, and picnic space and accommodation for spectators in lawn chairs on the first base side. Beneath the grandstand is a concrete-block building housing toilets and food-service facilities. These open away from the field, behind the grandstand. Spectator gates are off Rockland Street, behind the grandstand; and across from the Portsmouth Library, beyond left field. The baseball surface is natural grass. Players have access to covered dugouts and on-field

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if ...

s on each side of the field. Right field is notoriously short, and it is relatively easy to hit

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s over the chain-link fence that reach the dogwalk and tennis courts beyond right field. The prevailing west wind boosts balls hit to right field.

History

The ballpark was originally named "South Playground". It was home to the Portsmouth Baseball Club and the Atlantic Corporation in the late 1800s. In 1956, it was renamed Leary Field, after Portsmouth Mayor John J. Leary. The adjacent tennis and basketball courts are still called South Playground.

Seacoast Mavericks

The Seacoast Mavericks played six home games of the 2012 season at Leary Field, observing that attendance was roughly double that of its home in

Rochester, New Hampshire Rochester is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 32,492 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in New Hampshire, 6th most populous city in New Hampshire. In ad ...

. In 2013, the Mavericks moved to Leary, improved the dugouts, and installed new on-field bullpens. At the end of the 2017 season, Mavericks owner Dave Hoyt declared that the Mavericks would not return to Leary Field in 2018, citing "small ielddimensions and small crowds," though a planned sports complex in

Dover, New Hampshire Dover is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 32,741 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the most populous city in the New Hampshire Seacoast Region (New Hampshire), Seacoast region and ...

, would not be ready by 2018.

Other uses

Local

teams play at Leary Field. The field is also the site of the Portsmouth

fireworks Fireworks are Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large numbe ...

to commemorate the

Fourth of July Independence Day, known colloquially as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States which commemorates the ratification of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing th ...

(a celebration always held on July 3). There are athletic fields also named Leary Field in

Waltham, Massachusetts Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the Technological and industrial history of the United States, American Industrial Revoluti ...

.Leary Field (Waltham MA) at Mapquest.com
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References

{{Futures League Stadiums Baseball venues in New Hampshire Buildings and structures in Portsmouth, New Hampshire