At “The Big Reveal” event in downtown Kannapolis on Wednesday evening, the Intimidators revealed their new name, the Cannon Ballers. The Chicago White Sox Class A affiliate made the change in advance of the team moving into a new ballpark in 2020.
Kannapolis adopted the Intimidators name before the 2001 season when Kannapolis native and NASCAR driver Dale “The Intimidator” Earnhardt bought a share in the franchise. The Intimidators were previously called the Piedmont Boll Weevils. However, Earnhardt never got to see the Intimidators play, as he died in February 2001.
Many locals and racing fans criticized the decision to change names, but team management explained: “we do not own and therefore cannot confidently build around the Intimidator name.”
The new name was chosen for two primary reasons. It was able to represent the history of Kannapolis and it was going to give a carnival-like theme the team plans to provide. The Cannon Ballers name pays homage to the city’s mill history including the Cannon Mills Company, which at its peak, was the world’s largest textile producer.
“The Cannon family founded Kannapolis, so having a Cannon connection in our name is huge,” said Cannon Ballers general manager Matt Millward. “Cannons was the No. 1 suggestion we received [from the fans]. We really liked the name, but you can’t do much with it. So we took it to the next level.”
Louisville-based designer Dan Simon, of Studio Simon, created the new identity. Simon said that is was a challenge to balance the past and present and still honor the Intimidators name.
“When I went to Kannapolis, I met with civic leaders, business leaders, season ticket holders, families, people who grew up there and transplants. All kinds of people,” said Simon. “I was hoping to come back having determined what the consensus is. Are people looking to move on from the mills, or is this mill history so important that we can’t not have the identity reflect that? But instead of coming back with a consensus, I found that it was split down the middle. … So I’m sitting there thinking, we’ve got to go one direction or another. Otherwise half the people are going to think that their voices weren’t heard. You’re not always going to hit on something that accommodates both. It was a tough nut to crack.”
“The minute we saw it, we said ‘This is it!'” added Millward. “It just screams the core values of Minor League Baseball and allows us to be creative with everything from marketing down to food and beverage. It can be integrated in so many ways, and it’s all-American — red, white and blue with a touch of other colors.
“And there’s just the entertainment aspect that the name brings to it. The Human Cannonball, we’ll look to have him out to the ballpark. It just calls to mind a circus, carnival, festival-type world. Our staff, we’ve been studying carnivals. We went to a county fair and came back with tons of good ideas, just trying to think of how many creative tie-ins we can do with a carnival, circus-like theme to it.”
“We believe that the entire town can rally around this,” added Millward. “The name, logo and design really connect with the Kannapolis community. It’s a new image for ourselves. We’re taking the team to new heights.”
The new identity features many subtle nods to Earnhardt. The CB logo has the Earnhardt’s No. 3 hidden in it. The primary logo slightly references Earnhart through the Cannon Ballers’ jumpsuit and mustache.
The Cannon Ballers also released graphics of their new uniform including a white home uniform, a gray away uniform and blue alternate uniform.
