KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — The City of Kannapolis is celebrating 30 seasons of Minor League Baseball. The Kannapolis Cannon Ballers will take the field for their home opener on April 9 at Atrium Health Ballpark against the Augusta Green Jackets.
Longtime fans have been a part of the evolution of baseball in Kannpolis since the beginning. JoAnn Fugitt says her four kids grew up at the ballpark and have lasting memories with fans and players alike.
“I have a daughter, a son and twin boys and all of my kids have worked at the stadium," Fugitt said.
The ballpark that her children grew up at, however, is not where baseball games are played today. May 20, 2020 is the day Atrium Health Ballpark opened to the public. Fugitt is a season ticket holder who says she made it a priority to decide where she would watch the team play for the rest of her life. Her seat can be found behind home base, number 13.
Atrium Health Ballpark plays a major role in the city's revitalization project. A push made to draw more people downtown.
“I think for a long time after the mill was gone, Kannpolis was a dying town,” Fugitt said.
Fortunately, Fugitt says baseball was the staple in this community that continued to draw people in. Minor League Baseball was introduced to Kannpolis in 1995. Teams played at Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium, home of the Piedmont Phillies who relocated from Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Fugitt says she remembers that first season when the Phillies took the field at an unfinished stadium.
“A bunch of the original stuff wasn’t finished, they played, and they used those porta-johns and portable concessions and everything for that first season,” Fugitt said.
This baseball franchise rebranded before its 1996 season as the Piedmont Boll Weevils and again in 2001 as the Kannapolis Intimidators. The Intimidators was a name given to the team in honor of Kannapolis native NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt. In 2019, the Intimidators would play their final game at their home stadium, which drew in a record number of attendees. The City of Kannapolis had sold the stadium for $3 million as development of a new stadium was already underway in the city's downtown area.
Crews broke ground for the new ballpark in October 2018 with hopes of reaching completion by the 2020 season. That goal was met, however, the COVID-19 pandemic put Minor League Baseball on hold. The first season for the Kannapolis Cannon ballers was canceled. Fugitt says she remembers that announcement and how longtime fans like herself recognized opening day anyway.
“We stood out there at that gate and they played the anthem and everything to an empty stadium. That was heartbreaking because you know we lost that whole first year,” she recalled.
The Cannon Ballers took the field for the first time, one year later.
Now, for every home game at the new stadium, Fugitt attends. She says she’s developing a new love for this stadium, with a heart full of memories that got her here.