Having a Blast in Kannapolis

 The view from third base.

Here’s a big moment. There are 30 major league baseball stadiums and 119* minor league ballparks, for a total of 149 in the U.S. and Canada. I’ve been to 75 of them. Atrium Health Stadium in Kannapolis, N.C., where the Cannon Ballers were playing the Carolina Mudcats, put me over the halfway mark, and I couldn’t have picked a better place to celebrate.

The Cannon Ballers are playing in a brand new stadium with a brand new name and identity. When you approach the ballpark it looks like the crowd is converging on a county fair or traveling circus. Red and white striped canopies along the concourse cover vendor and sponsor booths, a gigantic blow-up bounce house in the shape of the baseball-headed stuntman “Boomer Baller” dominates the walkway in center field, and music fills the air from behind home plate, where organ wizard Greazy Keyz works his magic and holds court before, during and after the games.

Becky and Wicket approach the big Boomer bounce house, closed until further notice.

There’s also red, white and blue bunting in place around the grandstand in honor of the ballpark’s inaugural season. This is one of the new stadiums that were supposed to open in 2020, but didn’t because the minor league season was cancelled. Cannon Baller fans are making up for lost time and embracing the team with its new, offbeat name.

The team began almost 60 years ago as the Spartanburg Phillies. They moved from South Carolina to Kannapolis in 1995 and were known first as the Piedmont Phillies, than as the Piedmont Boll Weevils.

Best ballpark warning sign ever.

     

When NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt became a part owner after the 2000 season, the team adopted his nickname, “The Intimidator” as its own. They even played their games in Intimidator Stadium. But the new stadium provided an opportunity to refresh the team identity, and Cannon Ballers was the new name chosen in a contest.

Some say that Boomer, the iconic stuntman being fired from a cannon, has a moustache resembling Earnhardt’s, and that the B in the Cannon Ballers jersey lettering looks a like the race car driver’s number 3. Boomer’s projectile image is everywhere, including the inside of the souvenir soda cup which also includes the team’s catch phrase. The vendors don’t say “Enjoy the game,” or “Have a good evening” after making a sale. Instead it’s “Have a blast!”

Best baseball game ticket ever. 

This is a Low-A minor league team with a big league feel. Big catches and other baseball heroics are replayed on the big screen. Food offerings go beyond the standard hot dogs, peanuts and popcorn. BBQ, edible taco bowls, cheesesteak sandwiches, boiled peanuts, and seasoned corn on the cob are just a few of the options.

Best outfield wall ad ever.

The team store might be one of the smallest I’ve ever seen, but the quality inside is outstanding with lots of flashy merchandise to match the players’ star-spangled uniforms. One personal complaint is that there were no souvenir pins to add to my increasingly heavy pin lanyards. But I was wearing my lucky Savannah Bananas shirt and justice prevailed in the end.

Greazy Keyz, the man behind the music behind the plate.

I stopped to give thumbs up and a shoutout to Greazy Keyz, the organist behind home plate. “Sounds great,” I said. “Thanks. Nice pins,” he said, pointing to my lanyard. I told him I’d be back and headed off to my seat, but a minute later we heard a holler and turned around. Greazy had left his perch and chased me down to give me one of his pins, showing him as a wolf pounding on a wooden organ.

Best ballpark pin ever.

It was a great way to start off the game, but things didn’t go so well on the field for the Cannon Ballers. Carolina came on strong with an early assault from the plate. Five base hits in a row with two out in the third inning put them ahead 7 to 0 as 10 Mudcats came up to bat.

The big-screen rally prairie dog pumped up the home crowd in the bottom of the eighth with a rousing sing-and-response rendition of “Day-O.” The Cannon Ballers put together a string of hits to load the bases and brought home three runs with nobody out. That would be it though for Kannapolis as a rally-crushing and game-ending throw to the plate nailed the third out for Carolina. Final: Carolina Mud Cats 7, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 3.

*Why, you ask, is there an odd number of minor league ballparks? Two teams, the Jupiter Hammerheads and the Palm Beach Cardinals, share a stadium.