Road Trip:Kannapolis

Fred Landucci and I got into our car for the little under an hour drive to Kannapolis NC and the home of the  Kannapolis Intimidators.

Readers might remember my trip last year which readers might remember had me feeling like a day spent in one of those coal blasting furnaces that NFL Films always show on the highlights of the 1970's Pittsburgh Steelers.
We arrived just before first pitch, so there was no time to graph the home team or the visitors, the Greenville Drive, who saw in West Virginia and will not visit Hagerstown.

The day (being in April) was far cooler than that and the Intimidators gave us very good seats.
Fred was very excited to see Blair Jewell working for Kannapolis and she was excited to see him through their various interactions throughout the day.
Blair worked for a few years with the Harrisburg Senators and with Fred being a season ticket holder there, they got to know each other well.
It's always nice seeing baseball friends from previous stops and it's especially nice when it's someone that you liked a lot in their previous spot.

This day featured one of the ugliest uniforms that I've ever seen as Kannapolis used a "Paw Patrol" theme.
I didn't take a picture of these beauties, but I'll have one for the future as Fred bought two of these, so I'm sure he'd be happy to send a picture of them.
The stadium had a good crowd (I'd guess around 1,100) and the family sitting behind us (they were so nice and I wrote their names down, but my roster sheet disappeared-Sorry), said that this was the biggest crowd that they had ever seen there.
I believe them, since the Intimidators actually finished behind the Hagerstown Suns last year in attendance (Blame TebowMania) and how often does that happen?
Answer:Very Rarely and the team employees doesn't like the circumstances of how that happened-Want a laugh or an uncomfortable feeling in Kannapolis? Ask a higher up employee about Hagerstown beating them out and take your chances!

Kannapolis also had cheap concessions and long lines in them as I waited for two soda's.
I suppose the team didn't expect a crowd like this and seemed a bit on the understaffed side.
The game was a pummelling with Kannapolis winning going away 11-1 as another Red Sox farm team that seems to be not up to the usual level with Boston making so many trades that sent young talent away from the system.
I didn't get many cards signed,but I did add Alex Schreff ( a high Boston pick) on his Bowman card that I missed in West Virginia because I missed pulling his card and Kade McClure (from Mentor,Ohio home of Mitch Trubisky) of the Intimidators, who was a fourth pick out of Louisville as they went to the clubhouse,
Fred walked down to the field to meet outfielder Luis Gonzalez, who was the player jersey that he purchased, and had Gonzalez sign the two Bowman cards that I had for me.

Fred was getting tired and after the game wanted to get on the road, since our hotel was 90 minutes or so away,so we didn't add anyone postgame.
We drove a bit and decided to stop in Shelby NC (Home of Kenny Powers,Professional Baseball Player, A lot of you, Ah never mind) for a late dinner.
We chose a place called Fatz, which is a southern chain that I had never visited before.
With a name like Fatz, one would assume that it would be fast food or hamburgers, but it was more of a sitdown place..
Our waitress, Shelby (Shelby from Shelby which is kinda neat) was interested in us not being from the area and told us the origin of her name (named after the car and not the town) along with her saving for a car.
I had a shrimp Po'Boy, which was tasty although it fell apart a bit as I dined on it.
I was pleasantly surprised, although I must say Bad Daddy's in Winston-Salem was a bit better.

Finishing the drive to Asheville and settling into our hotel for the evening ended a long,but fun day with Fred.
Day one was in the books and day two would see a curveball and a resulting change of plans.