Flying Squirrels place time capsule at CarMax Park

RICHMOND, Va. – The Richmond Flying Squirrels and Gilbane Building Co. held a ceremony to place a time capsule at the gates of CarMax Park on Thursday afternoon.

Major milestone alert at @CarMaxPark! 🤩

Today, members of the Flying Squirrels and Gilbane Building Co. held a ceremony to officially bury our time capsule, filled with artifacts from the last 15 years of the team's history and beyond, inside the front gates of our new home. pic.twitter.com/SSmeGSlNre

— Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) January 22, 2026

The time capsule, which was officially registered with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, was filled with items gathered by the Flying Squirrels during the 2025 season.

Mementos and souvenirs placed in the time capsule included items from The Diamond, Richmond’s home for professional baseball from 1985-2025, as well as renderings of CarMax Park and other items.

“It was our intent to mark this unique moment in time, sunsetting a ballpark that served as the home to professional baseball for 40 years while preparing for the dawn of new era at CarMax Park with the contents of this time capsule,” Flying Squirrels General Manager Anthony Oppermann said.

The time capsule was filled with bobbleheads, jerseys, caps, a bag of infield dirt and signage from The Diamond, a bow from one of the Flying Squirrels’ mascots, Nutasha, and many other items.

Fans also had the opportunity to submit proposed items to donate to the time capsule, which were selected by the Flying Squirrels and presented during a pregame ceremony in September. Selected items included a bobblehead set of former R-Braves John Smoltz, Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones and Javy Lopez and an article about the first female bat girl at The Diamond.

Our time capsule is all filled up and ready to go!

Containing numerous relics from the Flying Squirrels, R-Braves and The Diamond, the time capsule will soon be buried underneath @CarMaxPark! pic.twitter.com/BE9FcdC4KG

— Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) September 9, 2025

Peyton Millikan provided a watercolor print of The Diamond, which was included. She was in attendance at the event on Thursday. There was also a baseball signed by the Diamond Duck, the former R-Braves mascot, which was provided by John Breeden. He was also at the ceremony on Thursday.

“We would like to dedicate this moment to people who have worked tirelessly to make this moment a reality and the people who are still very much actively working to make this project a reality,” Oppermann said before the time capsule was placed in the ground.