After a very cool Fredericksburg baseball experience earlier in the day, I continued North towards my intended destination, Carlisle, PA. Along the way, I decided to take a rest stop and check out a baseball field and experience in Hagerstown, MD. After a short stint off the highway through mostly side roads and narrow streets, I came upon Meritus Park, home of the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars. I found street parking right across the street from the baseball stadium and crossed the street to check out the Hagerstown baseball experience. This photo below shows just how close the houses are to Meritus Park, literally right across the street.
With the front gates expectedly locked, I started my trek down the sidewalk that ran parallel to Meritus Park. The banners lining the brick walls of the stadium read “Hub City” and “Boxcars” and the letter “H” creatively crafted. What is a Flying Boxcar by the way? According to the internet, which is never wrong, “The Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar was a prominent post-World War II American military transport aircraft. Entering service in 1949, it earned its nickname due to its boxy, highly spacious fuselage and distinctive twin-boom tail, and was used to haul and airdrop heavy cargo, paratroopers, and military vehicles.” What is “Hub City?” Again, per the internet, Hagerstown, MD is “known as the “Hub City” due to its historical wagon-wheel-like rail network convergence.” So there you go, Hagerstown Flying Boxcars, Hub City, and a post WWII American military aircraft are all tied to the Hagerstown baseball experience.
Before heading down the sidewalk, there was a stadium worker inside the gated area that I inquired about parking with. I showed him where my rental car was and he nodded and said it was fine for a few minutes. The team at Meritus Park was preparing for some high school baseball games later that day, so I thanked him and headed towards the outfield area to see if I could catch a glimpse of the inside of the stadium. The weather in MD was beautiful, very similar to my earlier stop in Fredericksburg. Sunny, hot, humidity rising, a few puffy clouds, but otherwise very summerlike.
The Hagerstown Flying Boxcars play in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. The Boxcars were founded in 2024 and have called Meritus Park their home field from Day 1. Hagerstown, MD has a long tradition of professional baseball, with the Hagerstown Suns spanning back to the early 1980s. The Suns were affiliates (at one time or another) for the Toronto Blue Jays, NY Mets, Baltimore Orioles, SF Giants, and more recently the Washington Nationals. Now, the Flying Boxcars carry on that professional baseball tradition each and every night at Meritus Park.
When I got down the hill and walked around the fenced area, I noticed a door propped open and a staffer walking the concourse area. I approached the open door, looked to see if there was anyone else around that I could greet, and seeing no one, entered the left field stands and took a few photos. I’m guessing the door was propped open for vendors or another staff, so I hustled and snapped a few photos before exiting.
Satisfied with the photos I had taken, I began the short walk up the street to my car. The near 90 degree temps were really starting to bake me, so I was eager to hop in my rental car and finish the roughly 1 hour of driving I had left to Carlisle, PA in some lovely air conditioning. I loved the community feel of this Hagerstown baseball spot. The stadium was literally across the street from a row of homes, businesses and it made the “be alert for flying objects” signs really hit home. I loved seeing all the cool banners and reading about the Flying Boxcars significance. Overall, it was an awesome Hagerstown baseball experience at Meritus Park, home of the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars.
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