Somewhat Less than Intimidating

Main entrance to Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium, Jul-2003.

The main building and entrance portal are all on the first-base side.

The field sports a pleasant if unexciting view.

Chronological Tour: Stop 243

• Location: Stadium Drive, off Lane Road at I-85 exit 63, Kannapolis, N.C. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 1995 as Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium
• Additional names: CMC-Northeast Stadium (2012), Intimidators Stadium (2017)
• Demolished: 2022
• Home team: Piedmont Phillies (1995), Boll Weevils (1996-2000), Kannapolis Intimidators (2001-19), South Atlantic League
• Capacity: 5,400

Rating: 2 baseballs

One entered the park from the east side, which was the first-base side. The entrance portal was covered, but it led out into an open concourse with practically no shelter from the elements. To make matters worse, the main concession stand was set back about 50 feet from the press box, which obscured spectators’ view of the sunken field. The long first-base building had a few sky boxes along with the rest rooms and the souvenir stand, which had become known as the Intimidation Station. There was a picnic area along the third-base side which is covered; that made for a decent place to watch the game during a drizzle or on a hot summer afternoon. Also unique here in 2005 was a whiteboard that features the NASCAR point standings; that had been removed by my 2017 visit, as had the whiteboard for the lineups, although a free scoresheet with the lineups printed on it was available in the souvenir stand.

The “Good Guys” host the “Bad Guys”.

When the park was being constructed in the fall of 1994 on a limited budget, the owners chose to add seats to the right-field line rather than investing in a better-quality drainage system. As a result, with the frequent thunderstorms that hit the Piedmont, left field turned into Lake Earnhardt with distressing frequency. My first two attempts to see a game here, in 2001 and 2002, were both rained out; the third went just five innings.

While the park was listed as Kannapolis and was patrolled by the Kannapolis city police, the physical location was just outside city limits and also a few hundred feet inside Rowan County (the majority of the city is in Cabarrus County).

For 2021, the club moved to a new park in downtown Kannapolis; the facility was ready for the 2020 season that was wiped out due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The club adjusted its identity in conjunction with the move, rebranding itself as the Cannon Ballers in a partial homage to the Cannon family. Cannon Mills, the towel manufacturer (which eventually became Fieldcrest Cannon), was the largest employer in Kannapolis for several decades. As of late 2022, this facility met the wrecking ball and the land is being repurposed.