It is January. It is Winter. And yet, there are so many cool baseball stories out there to be found here in Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads. So, when you want to gain some local baseball knowledge, you prepare. Layers, warm gloves, hat, and an exit strategy if the temperatures approach those of the Hoth Planet. Case in point, Sunday.

Sunday, it was downright cold. The wind chill factor dropped the temperature from freezing to walking ice bath. I started my baseball exploration on Princess Anne Road and conveniently, ended it at Princess Anne High School (off Virginia Beach Blvd.) Along the way, I got lost (sort of), passed the entrance to NAS Oceana, spotted some cool jet plane on the front lawn of the airfield (looked decommissioned), and found a cool blues station on the radio. All win wins in my book. Ok, let’s start on Princess Anne Road.

Heading down Princess Anne Road, passed the shopping and residential structures that line each side of the busy road, is the entrance to a hospital, a children’s hospital, a high school, and a concert venue. It’s true. Concert Dr., right there on the right, is the entrance (one of them) to Sentara Princess Anne Hospital, Children’s Hospital of the Kings Daughters (CHKD), Landsdown High School, and The Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater. I pulled into the high school parking lot, parked in the back lot near the athletic fields, and made my way over to the baseball field. It was a quick walk there and back, because the wind in the open field of Landsdown High School was fierce! I snapped a photo from centerfield and hustled back to my car. Ice bath, Hoth Planet, oh yeah we are nearly there, I thought.

After the aforementioned road trip around the circumference of NAS Oceana, I made my way over to Virginia Beach Blvd, then right onto Cavalier Stadium Dr. I pulled around to the back parking lot where the baseball field sat. I recall looking at it on Google Maps and noticing water (Thalia Creek) just on the other side of the trees that lined the perimeter of the field’s seating area. There at Princess Anne High School, the wind wasn’t so bad. Those tall trees actually helped me out tremendously blocking the wind. I parked in the spaces next to the field and began to walk around. 

The home dugout was adorned with several plaques and commemorative signs, so I stopped to take a few photos. Coach Jimmy Hunt, #24. 2005 Virginia Group AAA VHSL State Baseball Champions, very cool. This might be something here, I thought, maybe a famous player or coach is on this list. More about that later…

Whenever I visit fields, I always keep my eye out for commemorative statues or plaques honoring love ones, special people who meant something to that community. As I was walking around the dugout to get a shot of the field behind home plate, I spotted this plaque on the brick backstop facing the fans:

I really loved that inscription, “Little Man, Big Heart.” Wow, just 16 years old, way too young. RIP Ricky Young, I am sure you meant a lot to this school and this baseball team. 

Walking around the field, I grabbed a few photos of the field not yet out of winter hibernation and then made my way back to my warm car. I am really looking forward to catching a game or two there at Princess Anne High School this Spring. 

Ok, upon returning home from my wintery blustery baseball field walks, I took to Google to research any famous alumni from Princess Anne High School. Wow, what an impressive list. Singers, basketball stars, golfers, and one World Series Champion to speak of. Here is a short list of who came up in the Princess Anne High School alumni search:

• Pharrell Williams, mega superstar entertainer, producer, talent
• Tim Finchum, PGA Commissioner
• Curtis Strange, professional golfer
• Juice Newton, hey I remember her from her hits of the 1970s and 1980s
• And, one Daniel Hudson, listed as Dan Hudson on the Princess Anne High School Baseball plaque on the home dugout. This guy…

I’d say this was worth walking around those baseball fields that felt like the Hoth Planet, taking photos in Winter!!! A World Series Champion played high school baseball on that field, very cool. By the way, via Baseball Reference, here are Daniel Hudson’s career stats. Nice career, that is still ongoing to my knowledge.

Local high school baseball games will be here before we know it. And the high school baseball fields and stands will be packed with family and friends. I am really enjoying taking a tour of these VB fields prior to their Spring season. As always, I will look for those cool statues, commemorative plaques, and dugout signs that help tell the story of that school’s baseball history. And once the season starts, I plan on attending some of these local games to maybe spot the next Dan Hudson in the making.