By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
In what was perhaps the first indoor batting center that was open to the public in Alamance County, the facility closed in the fall with the sale of Burlington Sporting Goods.
It was more than a retail store after the location moved to Hanford Road in Burlington.
“I’m pretty sure we were the first indoor (batting facility),” said former owner Rock Perry. “It got off to a blast.”
Perry and his wife, Cheryl Perry, sold the facility in November. The building’s interior is being renovated for what Rock Perry said he has been told will be an automobile body shop.
It once served as a training area for many youth athletes and, in some cases, entire teams as well as adults.
“There was really nowhere for anyone to go do stuff like that,” Perry recalled. “We saw nothing like this in the neighborhood.”
Burlington Sporting Goods was founded in 1947 by Curry Bryan Sr. and handed off to Curry Byran Jr. and Billy Bryan, who later took sole ownership, and later owned by Tony Laws. Rock Perry, who had worked under Laws, bought the business around 1989 or 1990.
Laws, now the longtime director of the Burlington Recreation and Parks Department, said the business often appeared to excel under Perry, but he also understands the demands of the business. He was aware of the closing.
“Yes, it is sad,” Laws said. “A longtime fixture in our city.”
Perry said BSG had several locations in Burlington – from Worth Street to Spring Street to two locations on South Church Street and also to a couple of spots on Maple Avenue, the latter not far from the interstate. Perry moved to the Hanford Road site in 2002, so batting cages became part of the business. It was later renamed BSG Sports Center (though the sign that’s still up says “Burlington Sporting Goods & Batting Center”).
“And we had a gym,” Perry said.
BSG offered memberships or single-day use of the facility. There was a bullpen with mounds in a pitching area. Eventually, there were nine hitting machines. Behind the building, there was an area for infield drills.
The company sponsored youth teams – BSG Black Sox.
“The kids kept you young,” said Perry, also a longtime high school umpire.
The indoor area also was used for cheerleading workouts and practices.
When the pandemic struck in 2020, the retail part of the business nose-dived, Perry said. That led to the elimination of a walk-in retail set-up in favor of space for volleyball.
With a year or two of no or limited formal recreation teams and leagues, the business couldn’t thrive, Perry said.
“The last five years were completely different from the first 40,” he said.
Other indoor batting cages have popped up in the area. Many of those are largely for private use or for specific teams or groups.
Perry, 72, continues to play with the Alamance Giants amateur baseball team, which takes the field for 20-some games annually. The Perrys are moving on from what became their career with BSG.
“We had fun,” Rock Perry said of the business. “Retirement, we haven’t figured it out yet.”
