However, the Birds seemed cursed from the start: the club had difficulty finding a home field, finally signing an agreement with Delano-Hitch Stadium (then called Recreation Park) just a week before opening day.
More rain deluged the Newburgh area, and the Birds didn't play again until May 17: a 4–3 win over Mahanoy City which was called after seven innings due to darkness.
The Hummingbirds drew nearly 1,000 fans to their opener in their new home (impressive for a town of just 4,000 people), but it was all downhill from there; Giegnas, unable to pay the team's bills, soon returned the franchise to the NAL.
[3] In August, Hanales looked at moving the team to either Reading, Pennsylvania or Newton, New Jersey and/or signing an affiliation deal with the Brooklyn Dodgers; none of these came to pass.
The club, which had a 7-5 mark in Newburgh only to slip to 23-36 by mid-season, completely collapsed after that: they lost 53 of their last 57 games (including their last 19 in a row) to finish the season deep in the NAL cellar at 27-89.