Rock Hill Herald Logo

Knights pitcher on Fort Mill stadium: ‘It was a dump’ | Rock Hill Herald

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
  • Customer Service
  • Mobile & Apps
  • Newsletters
  • Archives

    • All News
    • Local News
    • Local Traffic Cam
    • North Carolina
    • South Carolina
    • Business
    • Education
    • NIE
    • Crime
    • More News
    • Andrew Dys
    • Nation/World
    • Politics/Government
    • Weird News
    • Databases
    • Down Home Magazine
    • Physicians Directory
    • Fort Mill Times
    • Fort Mill Times Sports
    • Submit a News Tip
    • Submit a Letter to the Editor
    • All Sports
    • Panthers
    • College
    • Winthrop
    • High School
    • High School Football
    • Auto Racing
    • Politics
    • Elections
  • Obituaries
    • All Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Submit a Letter
    • To the Contrary
    • James Werrell
    • Palmetto Opinion
    • All Living
    • Community
    • Weddings
    • Engagements
    • Anniversaries
    • Births
    • Religion
    • Family
    • Home & Garden
    • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Books
    • Calendar
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Puzzles & Games
    • Rewards
    • Horoscopes

  • Legals
  • Cars
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Virtual Career Fair
  • Homes
  • Classifieds

Fort Mill Times

Knights pitcher on Fort Mill stadium: ‘It was a dump’

By Mac Banks - mbanks@comporium.net

    ORDER REPRINT →

April 14, 2014 04:21 PM

The iconic line in the Hollywood movie “Field of Dreams” – “If you built it, they will come” – came true for the Charlotte Knights Friday night, the dawn of a new era for the Triple-A club.

After a quarter-century in Fort Mill, the new $54 million BB&T Ballpark opened Friday with all the festivities one might expect, as a standing-room-only crowd jammed into the intimate confines of the new uptown Charlotte home of the Knights, who lost to Norfolk 8-6 in 12 innings.

Dignitaries from around the city of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, Minor League Baseball and the International League were all on hand. Even Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf and N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory showed up.

“Baseball is officially back where it belongs in Charlotte, North Carolina,” said Don Beaver, majority owner of the Knights in a pregame speech on the field.

SIGN UP

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The Herald

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

Former Knights slugger and 22-year Major League veteran Jim Thome threw the first pitch. Thome played one full season with the Knights in 1993 and had a small stop again in 2007, when he played in five games on a rehab stint.

This was Thome’s first time back in the Charlotte area since that last cup of coffee with the Knights. Back then, the Knights called Fort Mill home.

Thome, now working with the Knights’ parent club, the Chicago White Sox, said opening day is something every player looks forward too, and opening day at a new ball park stands out in one’s mind.

“There is no other feeling like it,” he said. “I remember mine like no other day. There is that tunnel vision you get.”

Members of the Tega Cay 8 and under and 9 and above baseball teams were the first Little League-aged teams to join the Knights’ players on the field before the game. Pregame ceremonies pushed the 7:05 p.m. start time back 36 minutes.

The stadium’s seating holds 10,200 fans, but 10,231 crowded into the venue for the first game at BB&T Ballpark. Unlike the old Knights Stadium in Fort Mill, the seating in the new park wraps around the stadium, which isn’t far from where the NFL’s Carolina Panthers play.

The Charlotte skyline dominates the view from center field to right field. Behind left field, four giant trees separate the stadium from the other parts of the city.

Straightaway center field measures 400 feet. The left-field line is 330 and the right-field line is 315, as the ballpark is very friendly to hitters.

Knights Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President Dan Rajkowski started his pregame speech by saying to the fans, “welcome to your house.”

Charlotte resident Mike Crowther agreed with Rajkowski, saying BB&T Ballpark is what minor-league stadiums should be. A season-ticket holder this season, Crowther said he would make the trip to Fort Mill last year about two or three times a year and said the two venues don’t compare.

Knights Stadium “didn’t have a lot of character,” Crowther said. “It was real bland and had a lot of concrete.

“This is a prototype minor-league urban stadium. There isn’t a bad seat in the house. You have great views. They did a great job.”

However, one fan’s opinion captured the sentiment of what the front office and Knights players felt about their new home compared to the one in Fort Mill.

“It is a different feel,” Rajkowski said. “But it’s different for my field staff when they come to work, its different when we come to work. And that isn’t a knock by any means on the building we were in, in Fort Mill. There is just something special about the newness. And we have already sold out the first few nights, and the players are going to be playing in front of full houses every night, which changes the way you play the game.”

Rajkowski has become a pro at opening stadiums. He helped the Double-A Tennessee Smokies build a ballpark around the turn of the century. He said the energy a new ballpark brings to a team helps in many ways.

“I have been fortunate to have done this in Tennessee and remember it very fondly,” he said. “It is very emotional because you know you have spent so much time and energy doing something. It is special for all of us.”

Knights pitcher Charlie Leesman, who spent parts of the past two seasons playing for Charlotte in Fort Mill, didn’t hold back his feelings about leaving the old Fort Mill stadium.

“It was a dump,” he said. “Sorry to say it, but it was a dump. This is immaculate compared to that. So (the players) couldn’t be happier. It doesn’t even feel like we are in the same city anymore. It feels like a completely different place. We are pumped for that.”

Leesman said it’s more than just being in a new stadium, but being in a city that can provide a lot is beneficial as well.

“Even the apartments we will be living in are brand new,” Leesman added.

“They just finished building them, like, a month ago. When you have a great city to live in at home and you have a great city to play in, it makes it easier. Being at home compared to being in a place you didn’t want to be in like in Fort Mill. For one, you live 25 minutes from the stadium and have to drive there every day, and when you get there you don’t want to be there because it’s a dump.”

Accessibility is is a factor as well, said Leesman.

“This is more of a Triple-A atmosphere this year than last year was or the year before. We lived in Ballantyne last year and it was nice, but the drive was quite a distance,” he said.

“It’s nice we live walking-distance from the field. Everything is around here. Uptown is awesome. Restaurants are everywhere. It makes it that much easier for us. When we are at home, the guys don’t mind being at the park because it’s new and it’s nice. It’s a great situation for us to be in.”

The Knights struggled for more than a decade to draw fans to Fort Mill. According to final attendance reports from the International League website from 1993 through 2013, the Knights have finished either second-to-last or last in attendance in the 14-team International League every year since 2002.

Since the Knights joined the International League in 1993, they have always finished in the lower third of attendance.

Despite having nearly the same seating capacity as Knights Stadium did in Fort Mill, BB&T Ballpark has an energy that the venue near Gold Hill Road lacked.

“The key point is the fans,” said Knights Manager Joel Skinner. “We are in the entertainment business, and when you have a venue like this and the fans come out, it creates a great atmosphere for the fans and the players alike. I think they will really like this ballpark.”

  Comments  

Videos

Kevin KJ woods hits hits a grand slam

Sights and sounds from the 2018 SCHSL swimming state championships

View More Video

Trending Stories

Fort Mill hospital decision has been made. Here’s who gets to build it now

February 21, 2019 01:32 PM

York County suspect rams cop car, flushes ‘dangerous’ drugs next to kids, police say

February 21, 2019 09:28 AM

A sinkhole has a main road near downtown Rock Hill closed. Here’s where.

February 21, 2019 12:09 PM

‘Fallen and can’t get up’ in real life: Rock Hill cops break down door to save woman

February 20, 2019 11:58 AM

‘Widespread activity’: Confirmed flu cases in hundreds in York County region

February 20, 2019 12:32 PM

Read Next

Fort Mill hospital decision has been made. Here’s who gets to build it now
Video media Created with Sketch.

Business

Fort Mill hospital decision has been made. Here’s who gets to build it now

By John Marks

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 21, 2019 01:32 PM

Rock Hill South Carolina based Piedmont Medical Center expects to make a South Carolina Supreme Court decision on a Fort Mill hospital. PMC already has an emergency department there.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The Herald

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE FORT MILL TIMES

7 York County Council defendants tossed as money piles up in Fort Mill lawsuit

Local

7 York County Council defendants tossed as money piles up in Fort Mill lawsuit

February 20, 2019 02:58 PM
Fort Mill approves 2019-20 school calendar. Here are the highlights.

Education

Fort Mill approves 2019-20 school calendar. Here are the highlights.

February 20, 2019 12:48 PM
New store opening in York County hopes to become pet favorite with celebrations set

Business

New store opening in York County hopes to become pet favorite with celebrations set

February 19, 2019 11:23 AM
Fort Mill greenway visitors left with almost $10,000 in credit card charges, police say

Crime

Fort Mill greenway visitors left with almost $10,000 in credit card charges, police say

February 14, 2019 12:41 PM
Where is Charlotte sportscaster Chuck Howard now? Try a Fort Mill liquor store

Business

Where is Charlotte sportscaster Chuck Howard now? Try a Fort Mill liquor store

February 14, 2019 12:59 PM
1 shot, seriously hurt after someone fired at car on I-77 near Carowinds theme park

Latest News

1 shot, seriously hurt after someone fired at car on I-77 near Carowinds theme park

February 14, 2019 09:22 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Rock Hill Herald App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Archives
Advertising
  • Advertising Information
  • Place Obituary, Celebration
  • Place Classified, Legal
  • Local Deals
Copyright
Commenting Policy
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story