R. L. Graves Athletic Field - South Portland Puffins

Photos by David Welch, Stadium Journey

Stadium Info FANFARE Score: 2.43

R. L. Graves Athletic Field 2 Fort Road South Portland, ME 04106

South Portland Puffins website

R. L. Graves Athletic Field website

Puff Up

Founded in 2017, the Greater Northeast Collegiate Baseball League (GNCBL) is a summer league based in Maine that gives college players a chance to develop during the summer months. In its early years, the league operated with a nomadic model; teams traveled throughout Maine and New Hampshire to play games at various local fields, without fixed home venues. That changed in 2024, when the league was sold and reorganized to focus on community-based franchises, each tied to a specific home field. The shift brought greater structure, local identity, and fan engagement to the league. Team rosters are primarily made up of college players who attend Maine schools or who are Maine natives returning home for the summer.

One of the new franchises in the reorganized GNCBL is the South Portland Puffins, who began play in 2025. They call R. L. Graves Athletic Field home, located on the waterfront campus of Southern Maine Community College. While the field had hosted GNCBL games in the past, this is the first time South Portland has had a team of its own.

Food & Beverage   1

A small snack table sits behind the modest press box, offering a limited selection of candy bars, chips, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and bottled Gatorade. It is nothing elaborate, but it gives fans some basic options to grab a quick drink or snack during the game.

Atmosphere   3

Graves Athletic Field is a bare-bones setup, just a baseball diamond and backstop, with a small set of bleachers and a game operations shed behind home plate. A small electronic scoreboard sits in the outfield, though it is not used during Puffins games. The field directly abuts the school’s softball diamond, even sharing part of the left-field fence.

The field is backdropped by boats moored in Portland Harbor, just off Willard Beach, and the 19th-century brick buildings of Fort Preble, a coastal defense fort first established in 1808.

Despite the basic setup, game day comes together better than might be expected. There is a public address announcer introducing batters, as well as playing walk-up songs and music between innings.

Most fans bring tailgating chairs or just find a spot on the fence along each of the base lines to watch the game from. This truly is baseball in its simplest form, in a picturesque environment.

Neighborhood   4

Graves Athletic Field sits on the campus of Southern Maine Community College in South Portland, on what was once part of historic Fort Preble, a coastal defense installation built shortly after the Revolutionary War. Though the fort was active for over 140 years, the only known shots fired in conflict here were warning rounds at a Confederate ship during the Civil War. Today, several of the original brick structures still stand throughout campus.

The area also features Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse, located just a short walk along the Spring Point Shoreway Trail. Visitors often enjoy walking the granite breakwater that stretches out into Portland Harbor to get a closer look. Just off campus is Willard Beach on Simonton Cove, a small, quiet spot popular with locals looking for a peaceful place to relax by the water.

If you are looking to grab a bite to eat before or after a Puffins game, there are several local spots within walking distance – Spring Point Tavern, El Corazon Casita, and North 43 Bistro each offer a different flavor of coastal Maine dining. Just up the road, Lady Shuckers Snack Shack serves oysters on the half shell, lobster rolls, and a rotating menu of sandwiches. For dessert, the locally beloved Red’s Dairy Freeze is just a short drive away.

While a South Portland Puffins game may not be a destination event on its own, coastal Maine is. For nearby lodging, McKernan Inn, located right on the SMCC campus at Spring Point, is a scenic and convenient option, though it fills up quickly. Just across the harbor, however, Portland’s Old Port offers several hotel options.

Fans   2

Attendance across the Greater Northeast Collegiate Baseball League tends to be modest, with most games drawing fewer than 100 fans. At South Portland home games, the crowd is usually made up of player families and a few curious onlookers, including some spectators who stumble upon the game while heading back from the beach, or were out walking the dog. At this point, the team does not yet have a steady local following or neighborhood fan base; it is a quiet, low-key scene, typical of many summer college baseball experiences.

Access   3

Southern Maine Community College sits at the easternmost edge of South Portland, and while it is a scenic location, access is fairly limited. Broadway is the main route into the area, as well as the most direct way to reach the field. Fort Road runs alongside the ballpark, but winds through residential neighborhoods and is not a major throughway. That said, the area is served by a public bus route, with a stop just outside the ballpark, and is generally bike-friendly, providing a few different ways to get here.

Parking is not much of an issue. Thanks to the evening start times and summer schedule, spots are typically available in the lots along Benjamin W. Pickett Street or even along Fort Road itself. From either place, it is just a short walk to the field.

As for accessibility, there is not much that requires navigating – just a small section of bleachers and a game operations shed behind home plate. The path that many watch the game from also serves as an access the beach, but it is plenty wide enough and does not create much congestion.

Return on Investment   2

If judging the return on investment based on the listed online ticket price, $11.75 after fees, coming to a South Portland Puffins game is hard to justify, especially when higher-level summer baseball is available nearby for less money.

Adding to the dilemma is the open layout of the field; because Graves Field sits next to a public pathway to the beach and Fort Road, there is no controlled entry point. Unless someone is entering the small bleacher section behind home plate or setting up a chair directly behind the backstop, there is little way to enforce ticketing. Most of the field is visible to anyone walking by, making the idea of paid admission feel more like a suggested donation than a true ticket fee.

Extras   2

Not enough can be said about Graves Athletic Field’s location, namely backdropped by Portland Harbor and off set with the red brick buildings of campus. In addition, if you walk toward the shore, the famed Portland Headlight can be seen not too far off in the distance.

There are several historic markers around the field and around the Fort Preble buildings which surround it, offering context about the site’s military past.

Final Thoughts

The score given to South Portland Puffins baseball does not necessarily reflect the baseball environment at R. L. Graves Athletic Field – the field’s location is a stunning place to sit back and take in a game, while enjoying the tranquility of the harbor in the distance, while the game itself is typically entertaining enough to provide a baseball experience with a true, laidback Maine summer feel.