The Charlotte 500, Lap 2: Where Baseball and Racing Meet

Although it doesn't have a major league team, Charlotte is a great area for baseball. There are nearly two dozen minor league teams, affiliated and independent, within two hours.

Today's featured team is the Kannapolis Intimidators. Formerly the Piedmont Boll Weevils, the Intimidators were renamed after the 2000 season when NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt purchased a share of the team. Earnhardt, whose driving style (tough or dirty, depending on whether or not you were a fan) earned him the nickname The Intimidator, never got to see the team play as his namesake. He was killed in February 2001 on the final turn of the final lap at Daytona. The team has retired uniform number 3 in Earnhardt's memory.

The Intimidators are part of the Class A South Atlantic League and are affiliated with the Chicago White Sox. Their games are played at Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium, which is named for the textile company that built the town of Kannapolis, approximately 25 miles northeast of Charlotte. The most well known athletes to wear the Kannapolis uniform are Jimmy Rollins, now starring for the Philadelphia Phillies, and Ricky Williams, the dreadlocked former Heisman winner whose NFL career went to pot, literally.

These photos (can't you just feel the action?) are from a game we attended in May. As you can see, you won't have to fight for a seat and the price is right.